


Blood, Chi, and Full Moons

by worldcrawler



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/F, F/M, Growing Up, Maturing, Romance, Sexual Content, Violence, Zutara, empowerment, power
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-08
Updated: 2016-10-15
Packaged: 2018-02-12 09:01:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 25
Words: 104,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2103645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/worldcrawler/pseuds/worldcrawler
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Katara tells Aang she won't help him rebuild the air nation and instead embarks on her own journey, he doesn't take it too well. When she returns she knows more than ever before about her own power. But what she learned on her travels threatens to send the whole friendship group into an imbalance that will test their strength of character and self control in a way war never did.<br/>---<br/>"Don't you EVER say YOU ended the war, Twinkletoes, there is no way in HELL you could have done it without us! Especially Katara. She deserves her freedom"<br/>---<br/>"You're going to see Hama, aren't you?"<br/>"Yes."<br/>"For what its worth, I think that is the right thing to do. Bloodbending is as much a part of you as firebending is a part of me. Although, I do tend to have a bit of a messed up moral conscience!"<br/>---<br/>"Tell the Prince not to keep Sweetness waiting."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Pair of Shoes and Mango Skins

**Author's Note:**

> My first attempt at a Zutara fanfic! I am a firm believer that there is no way Katara and Aang could have worked; she has too much of a dark side to her and there is only one other character that matches that!  
> Anyway, please review and enjoy!

“Me and Katara are going to travel the world and rebuild the air nation!!” cried an excited Aang. 

The group of friends were sitting in the gardens of the fire palace discussing the future. A year had passed since defeating Fire Lord Ozai and they had travelled together to start the new alliances; they opened negotiations with the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribes, educating the new ambassadors to carry on their work. They had started talk of reparations, of long term relinquishment of the more recent colonies (the first ones had been Fire Nation for so long that they chose to remain that way), and had helped rebuild parts of various cities.

They had convinced Uncle Iroh to take up the role of Fire Lord, and he had promised that when things settled he would leave the position for Zuko. The last thing the nation needed was somebody as inexperienced as the Prince in all fire nation matters. Zuko would stay, observe, help, and slowly the responsibility and power would shift to him - when he was ready. Iroh still wanted his tea shop and was determined to break the family tradition and not ‘die as Fire Lord’. 

“I… I don’t think we are Aang…” started a hesitant Katara. She chewed on her bottom lip and her bright blue eyes looked away from the young avatar. “I know you want to rebuild the air nation but I … thats not what I want to do.” 

There was a moment of silence as Aang processed this.

“But Katara!! You know how important it is for balance in the world! You know we have to do this!” Aang looked put out and he was whining like a child. Then again, he was only thirteen. 

“No, Aang, _you_ need to do this. _I_ don’t. I have my own life to live.” There was another complete silence where the young avatar blinked several times in confusion. “Alone Aang. Not you and me. You on your own, and me on mine…” she added quietly, her whole face turning red and desperately trying to stop herself shaking. Somehow letting down her friend was one of the hardest things she had had to do. Because thats exactly how she saw him; a friend. More of a son than anything else. Sure, they had kissed a few times but that did not mean that they were together. And if anything, those kisses were motivated by a happy confusion on her part. Besides, he was still so young! And she was now fifteen knowing far more about the world than most people, including Aang - she couldn’t spend her life waiting for him to grow up holding on to the hope that she might eventually fall madly in love with him. Because that is what she wanted; when she eventually finds somebody she wanted it to be like _fire_ , she wanted to fall madly in love - they type old folks sing about. She knew she was not ready for that right now, and neither was he.

“But… I love you.” He said, a deadness in his tone. The others had realised something significant was going on and they stood slightly to the side, ready to intervene.

“I know Aang. I’m sorry.” Katara hung her head, hoping to Yue that it was enough for him to understand.

“NO! YOU DON’T KNOW! I saved the world Katara! I saved it for you! And this is how you repay me?! That’s not fair!!” he shouted, making the whole group jump. Katara started to cry.

“Right Twinkletoes! That’s enough!” said Toph in her stern voice. Stepping between them.

“Move Toph, this has nothing to do with you!” growled Aang, trying to look past her to Katara

“Actually yes it fucking does. You can’t go around spreading bullshit like that - and whats worse, you can’t actually be serious about thinking that shit!” she growled back. She was still as small as she had been a year ago, but had grown more fierce than ever.

“Toph! Don’t swear!” Aang said, shocked by the language she was using and actually focusing on her and not Katara. Toph smirked; step one accomplished.

“Why not Twinkletoes? Does that offend you? I’ll let you in on a secret; I’m not a little girl anymore - I can use whatever language I like.” She stood, arms folded across her chest waiting for his next move. 

“Toph you don’t understand, this is between me and her! And I’m sorry but you are going to have to get out of the way…” He went to swipe at her with his glider but she preempted it; with a flick of her toe a rock jumped up from the ground and knocked the glider out of his hands. With a stamp of her foot he was covered to the head in stone, unable to move his arms or legs. He had no choice but to listen. 

“Right you are going to listen now, and you are going to listen hard. Tell me, Aang, you saved the world - you seem to think that thats a reason for Katara to fall in love with you. But we also live in the world - surely we should all be head over fucking heels for you by that logic. Let me tell you sweet cheeks, that is not the case. Secondly, Don’t you ever fucking say _you_ saved the world. You couldn’t have done it without us - especially without Katara who babied you when you had nobody. She is the greatest water bender there ever was and she taught you and cooked and cleaned and organised and picked you up when you were down - She mothered you Aang! Where is the romance in that! Why would she commit to being with a kid who she sees as her own son? Thirdly, you can’t earn people’s love like that - they either are in love with you or they aren’t. Fucking deal with it, that shit hurts. And lastly Katara has spent the best part of the last two years doing what _you_ needed to do. She isn’t Air Nation - she is her own person and quite frankly its insulting to her that you just assume she will drop everything that makes her Katara so she can follow you around on your missions being nothing more than ‘The Avatar’s Girlfriend’.” Toph finished, glaring at Aang who was now in tears. She whipped around to face Katara. 

“And you! You fucking pressured Master Pakku to teach you, you travelled the world, you beat Zuko at the North Pole, you brought both Aang and Zuko back from death and you are incapable of standing your ground? What is the world coming to!!” Toph threw her hands up in the air, exasperated. Katara sobbed louder but threw herself onto Toph in a tight hug as a thank you. 

In the meantime, Aang was pleading with Sokka, Suki and Zuko to make her see sense.

“Sorry man,” muttered Sokka, coming closer to the avatar, “I’d prefer she be with you rather than on her own but she deserves her own life… she’s spent it so far looking after me and then us… thats not really fair.”

“Aang, try to understand,” added Suki gently, “We are not the kind of people who are easily pushed over - we need to find our own path, we are all strong… and from what I understand, thats part of the reason you love her in the first place - how can you deny her freedom?”

“Zuko! You think this too?” pleaded Aang, as if Zuko held the answer he needed.

“You can’t earn love. Believe me, I tried to earn my father’s my whole life. Besides, Katara deserves her freedom, she’s fought her whole life for it. Remember that Mai turned out to prefer Ty Lee to me - it hurts but it also passes.” Zuko didn’t move from where he was standing, arms crossed over his chest and leaning back against a pillar that surrounded the garden. He was trying to lighten the atmosphere and to calm himself down - he had suddenly realised how much more he respected Katara for standing up for herself. Staying with Aang was the easy option, the one they all thought she would take. But she was stronger than merely doing what people wanted her to do. She was, after all, one of them. It was the one trait that brought them together. Toph didn’t want to be cooped up in her home treated like a dirty secret, Sokka didn’t want to stay in a village without helping out in the war, Suki didn’t want to be helpless and powerless in her island’s struggle, and he… he didn’t want to follow in his father’s footsteps and destroy the world.  They had all fought for their freedom, they all knew how important it was.

Aang dropped his head so his forehead rested on the rim of the stone prison. Toph released him. He slowly bent to pick up his glider and looked at his friends, avoiding Katara completely. 

“Well, I guess this is goodbye then.” He nodded to himself and leaped up into the air, opening his glider and losing himself in the clouds.

The group stood, stunned at his immediate disappearance into the skies. 

—————

Night fell and Aang still had not returned. It dawned on them that maybe he meant it, that he really had gone off to start his missions immediately. Appa was gone when they checked in the stables that had been especially built for him. 

Toph declared that Aang was a ’twat who didn’t even say thank you’. Sokka and Suki were unnaturally sombre and Katara would silently brush away quiet tears. Zuko was the only one who was holding it together. He tried to explain to the others that it would take Aang some time to grow up, that he was still only thirteen - he was, after all, thirteen when he was banished. Plus, Aang was the avatar! He could take care of himself.

They all knew he was making sense but still they felt slightly betrayed at his extreme reaction. They all went to bed with heavy hearts. 

——————

Zuko couldn’t sleep and kept tossing and turning. Thinking of his banishment had brought on all his old memories - things he had managed to keep more or less at bay for a year now. He sighed, realising he needed a distraction and snuck with all the stealth of the blue spirit down towards the kitchens to find some left over bread to gnaw on. 

On his way down, flitting between the shadows of the pillars surrounding one of the many courtyards, he noticed a pair of shoes on the grass by the large fountain. Silently, keeping to the shadows cast by the full moon, he etched closer to look over the stone lip into the water. 

Katara.

She was sitting, eyes closed, in the fountain. The moon seemed to flow all around her, reflecting off the water and onto her face. She was submerged to her shoulders, giving the odd impression of a disembodied head. 

“Full moon huh,” he said quietly, stepping into a shaft of moonlight. She opened her eyes, surprised but calm.

“It calls to me.” Zuko moved over and sat on the stone wall that surrounded the fountain, bringing his knees up and hugging them as he looked down at the Waterbender.

“You’re going to see Hama, aren’t you?” he asked. A troubled look crossed her face.

“Yes.”

“For what its worth, I think that is the right thing to do. Although, you know, sometimes I have a bit of a fucked up moral conscience!” They chuckled at the memories of the angry, banished prince who had chased them around the world.

“Thanks Zuko. That actually does mean a lot to me.” He shrugged.

“Blood bending is part of you and like water bending you need to learn to master it. Otherwise it could reveal itself in the wrong circumstances. Iroh always told me that a bender who hasn’t reached their full capacity is a bender ready to explode.” There was a silence in which Katara had let her hands float to the surface and was playing with dipping them in just the right amount to maintain the surface tension around her fingers.

“You… you don’t think it is … well…evil? You saw what I did to the Southern Raiders…” She did not look up from her fingers while she waited for his answer.

“I don’t really think there is such a thing as evil. There are actions that are good and actions that are bad - those that help and those that hurt. You are in control of what you hurt and what you help Katara, you are strong enough to control it. You weren’t locked up for years in a prison, insanity is not something that will touch you or it would have already with everything we’ve been through. But you cannot deny part of yourself.”

“But Aang always said…”

“Yeah well fuck Aang! He is the embodiment of light in human form but he is just a kid. You know yourself Katara. Leave him behind and find your own path through this wild, overgrown jungle we live in! Following his footsteps only means you are lost when you can’t see them anymore.”

“Alright Uncle Iroh! When did you wise up so much?!” she laughed. He had cheered her up. They were all things she had been telling herself but she needed somebody else to share the feeling. She had resigned herself to doing this alone, but his encouragement meant that she wasn’t really alone at all. 

“Listen, I was going to the kitchens to steal some bread, would you like some?” he offered, unnaturally happy that she was laughing with him.

“That would be great actually! But its not stealing if its already yours Zuko!”

“Shhhh! It is far more exciting if I pretend that it is! I feel like I’m the blue spirit again…” he trailed off, standing up slowly and observing the shadows.

“Sometimes I miss it too,” she told him quietly. He nodded and then disappeared into the darkness. 

Katara sighed and let herself fall backwards into the water so that it was completely covering her. She could see the moon dancing on the water in front of her eyes and it reminded her of the reflection of the moon on the sea. She really did miss it sometimes.

When Zuko returned he held two mangos instead of bread. He was grinning from ear to ear with his treasure. Katara squealed in delight when she saw what he was holding and jumped out of the fountain to grab her share. 

Zuko froze. 

Katara’s night gown - a fire nation tradition they had all become acquainted with - had been white. Now it was practically non existent, clinging to her body as she fashioned an ice knife and cut open the fruit. 

She noticed him staring and giggled nervously.

“It isn’t nice to stare Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation!” she said lightly, hiding a blush as she removed all the water from her clothes and hair with a swipe of her hand and sent it flying back into the fountain. They sat down on the fountain’s rim to enjoy their snack.

“Its just, well, you’re beautiful Katara,” he muttered into his mango before realising what he had just let slip and turing bright red. She groaned.

“Don’t say that! I don’t have a good track record with people who tell me that!”

“Really? Like what?” he asked quickly, clearly trying to turn the conversation away from himself.

“Well first there was Jet,” she heard Zuko clench his jaw and saw him narrow his eyes, “He told me that and then slept with me and then tried to convince me to murder a whole village of innocent people. Then, there was Haru who told me that and went off to war… and then of course Aang who told me that, stole a couple of kisses from me and assumed we would be together for ever. So what will it be Zuko?” Was she flirting? That caught them both by surprise but it was so effortless that it didn’t really phase either of them.

“Can I take none of the above? But Jet! Seriously! Him?! Katara you must have better taste than that!”

“What! He was charming and brave and he actually paid attention to me! I grew up in a village where the only boy of around my age was my brother! And then Aang who I had to look after… I was smitten. I regret it but I guess what’s done is done.” She looked down at the empty mango skin remembering those secret nights. 

“That’s alright. My first was a girl who is a knife maniac. And she prefers girls.” They both giggled and fell into a comfortable silence. Katara sighed.

“I guess we should probably go back to bed and get a few hours sleep before tomorrow.”

“That is probably best. But at least we can make it fun… lets pretend we are being chased… one last time?”

Katara grinned.

“Lets do it Sparky!”

They faded into the darkness, keeping to the shadows and running on their tip toes, taking turns at being look out when they had to turn around corners. Everything was silent and there was no danger - but they had missed out on being children and had come to enjoy the sense of camaraderie that came with their little group and danger. 

They arrived, breathless, in front of Katara’s door. They looked at each other and laughed lightly, letting the sound echo down the empty corridors. Zuko sighed.

“I’ll really miss you Katara,” he admitted looking away. He meant it. More than any of the others they were the most similar. They had know each other through bad and good, thick and thin. They were the ones ready to make the hard decisions when it came to negotiations and they knew when to attack and when to protect. Besides, he would miss watching her dance with water - that kind of sheer power and delicate beauty was something he doubted he would ever see in anybody else.

“Zuko…” she said quietly, turning his attention back to her blue eyes. She lifted herself up to her tiptoes and gently pressed her lips to his. “I’m going to miss you too.” She turned to go then stopped. “And just so we’re clear, that does not mean we are engaged!” Zuko chuckled and held up his hands.

“None of the above. It just means that life’s going to be a little less exciting when we’re apart.” Katara smiled and squeezed his hand before disappearing into her room. Zuko walked back to his own bed in a daze, a grin pasted stupidly to his face.


	2. Katara Returns Dressed in Red

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katara returns from her two year journey across the world. She had learned about blood bending, escaped a betrothal and uncovered one of the most ancient texts from Wan XI Tong's library. What was contained in that book would change the way she and Zuko see water bending.   
> A Waterbender. Wearing Fire Red.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit of a long chapter, but bear with it! The twist at the end is worth it, I promise. It is kind of a transition chapter, but it is necessary to know what Katara did in her journey!  
> Please review, any comments welcome :)

——————2 years later——————— 

 

Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation collapsed, starfish style, onto his bed and promptly fell asleep still in his royal garments. He’d had delegations from various ex-colonies at the palace all week discussing the change of power from fire nation back to earth kingdom - or as it happened for about half of them, no change at all. Each person and come with their own set of demands which seemed to be uniquely designed to oppose the next person’s - and they all sought solutions from the Prince. Fire Lord Iroh was in the Northern Water Tribe discussing fishing boundaries and (Zuko suspected) playing multiple games of Pai Sho. So that left Zuko to step up and act as Fire Lord in his absence.

Now, at least, the delegations had all left, and Zuko had managed to stay awake through their farewell dinner. He was done! The next few months would be a breeze, comparatively speaking. But for now, sleep.

 

——————————

 

Three sharp knocks resounded through Zuko’s room and, rather painfully, through his head. He groaned, stretching his cramped muscles but didn’t get up. 

Another three knocks, followed by a timid “Prince Zuko?”

“Go Away!” he shouted back, giving in to his childish reflexes. Why couldn’t they damn well leave him alone?

“Apologies Prince Zuko but you have a visitor…” Zuko could hear the hesitation in the messenger’s voice and immediately felt sorry for shouting. It wasn’t his fault after all.

“Who is the visitor?” He asked, barely lifting his face off the pillow, eyes still cobwebbed in deep sleep. 

“I… I don’t know Sir, all she said was: ‘Tell him not to keep Sweetness waiting’. Should I tell her to leave?” Zuko sat up as a smile slowly lit up his face. He jumped off the bed - vaguely recognising that he was still wearing his clothes from the night before - and ripped the door open. The messenger didn’t realise what was happening and jumped back in shock at the disheveled Prince in crumpled clothes and messy hair that appeared in front of him.

“Run to the kitchens and get me two mangos. Then come back here and take me to her.” The messenger blinked at Zuko in surprise at the odd request. The Prince rolled his eyes. “NOW!” he barked. Was it possible that any time he wanted to get something done quickly he had to shout?

As the messenger scurried away Zuko retreated to his room and peeled off his formal clothes, changing into maroon casual baggy trousers and matching shirt, with a black sash tied around his waist. His hair… well… it would have to do. 

There was another timid knock at the door, and Zuko opened the door, grabbed the two mangos from the messenger’s hands and ran off to the palace entrance, forgetting to wait for him to lead him. 

He expected to find her seated in one of the waiting rooms surrounding the main Palace, but he checked all of them and found them completely empty. Confused he walked outside into the sun and saw five guards at the gates forming a human wall - and beyond them, Katara.

She was dressed in Fire Nation red, and looked much older than she had when she left two years before. She had lost weight and had a new determined set to her jawline. Her blue eyes were more guarded and icy than he remembered and her hair hung loose instead of that childish plait. She still had her hair loopies and her mother’s necklace though, which contrasted the otherwise dangerous looking woman that stood before him. 

She was more beautiful than ever. And red looked really good on her, he thought.

Katara noticed him approaching the gate and squealed in delight.

“Sparky you brought mangos!!!!!” she cried, smiling from ear to ear and clapping her hands. Ah. There was the old Katara.

“A peace offering for keeping you waiting in the hot sun,” he replied, grinning as much as his scar would allow. The guards turned to look at him in shock and glanced at one another in confusion. “Guards, stand down. This is Master Katara of the Southern Water Tribe. She has free access to the Palace. Always. And for future reference, when people come to see me, take them to the waiting rooms, it is barbaric to have them waiting outside.” 

The younger guards’ eyes widened - the legendary water bending master! But how was she so young?!  They scrambled to get out of the way as she passed them and smiled, a little too sweetly at them. The two who had been making inappropriate comments at her gulped audibly, keeping their eyes trained to the ground. 

Katara walked to Zuko and hugged him tightly. He returned it as well as he could still clutching his mangos. When she pulled away he saw that she had tears in her eyes.

“It is good to be back. I’ve missed everybody so much!” she said, her voice breaking half way through.

“Its good to see you again. Finally a friendly face that isn’t threatening to bring down the Nation! Come, lets go get breakfast. Are you staying for a while?”

“Yes. If its not an issue of course..” Zuko smiled brilliantly. 

“We might need to find some more mangos but apart from that, stay as long as you like. Oh Chan! Could you prepare the Personal Guest room please? And tell the kitchens to bring breakfast to my room.” The servant bobbed her head and scurried away to fulfil the Prince’s orders.

 

—————————

 

A while later, when they had both had time to wash and dress in casual clothes, they reconvened in Zuko’s chambers, sitting around a table laden with fruits, tea and breads. 

“So tell me, _Master_ , what did you find in your travels? Did you learn much about water bending? And blood bending? Did you find Hama?” He tried to keep his tone light, but underneath there burned a powerful curiosity. What on Earth kept her away for two years? It must mean she found something very important.

“I… yes I did. But its a long story… and actually has to do with why I’m here,” she said, fastidiously picking grapes from the bowl. 

“I have time. Start from the beginning.”

 

“Well, I tracked down Hama. Obviously it didn’t take her long to escape from prison once again, and she had moved around and ended up in the Earth Kingdom. Thankfully she had shaken her obsession with locking people under mountains, but under a full moon she still toyed with people without them understanding what was happening. She didn’t hurt them though, so at least that. 

She was incredibly happy to see me even though last time we met it ended with her being taken to jail. But I think it was the thought of somebody else sharing the bloodbending she had discovered. Anyway under the full moon she taught me all she knew - including some pretty harrowing descriptions of what she did to the guards when she first broke out of jail. Did you know most of the human body is water? And just like we can extract water from the air, from the grass, from the trees - you can do that to a person. It kills them instantly and reduces them to ash apparently. Or, you know, if you don’t feel like killing them you can always take all the water from their eyes - which apparently deflate and they go blind…”

She trailed off, taking a deep breath and pouring out some more tea.

“Hama had developed a bit of a taste for blood. But the more I learned, the more I started thinking that you didn’t need to use bloodbending for harm. You could heal. You saw what I could do with water - but the body wants to heal itself! If I could use somebody’s own blood to heal them, surely it would be more effective!”

“Did you manage to?” asked Zuko, leaning forward in fascination. Katara sighed.

“Will you let me show you? You shoulder is in pain, can I heal it for you?” 

“How did you know my shoulder was in pain? Yes, yes of course…” Katara closed her eyes and Zuko felt the pain that he had been sporting in his right shoulder (in his opinion from writing too many reports) slowly fade, and in its place a pleasant warmth spread. He lifted his arm above his head with no issue.

“I have not been able to move it properly in weeks! How did you do that?”

“Well, soon after I started thinking about healing, a little girl’s leg got trampled on by an ostrich-horse. I tried healing her with water but that made her scream in pain and I just couldn’t make it right. So I tried to bloodbend. It was rudimentary compared to what I can do now, but it fixed her leg. You have to follow the flows of the blood and see where they are ruptured, then coax them to regain their usual path. Like your shoulder, you pulled something and that disrupted the flow of blood to that area, meaning it was dry and painful. By letting the blood back in I am basically speeding up the natural process.

I left Hama when I realised she couldn’t teach me anything more. Unlike her I can blood bend at any time of the day or night, whereas she was only powerful enough during the full moon. I surpassed her quickly and moved on. I think she plans to return to the Water Tribe at some point even though her old brain is addled and confused.

I travelled North to the Northern Water Tribe. I knew they had a library of sorts about healing and wanted to look into it to see if there are any references to what you can do with blood. Of course I couldn’t tell them what I wanted to do, I simply said I wanted to become a better healer. I studied a lot and learned about all the flows of the body - about the main bloodways and the minor ones, about how to calm an ulcer and to combat frostbite. I applied everything to bloodbending and I was immediately more successful and more powerful than any of the other healers. I was considering teaching them - and I might still go back and do that -, but then my father arrived.

Chief Hakoda of the Southern Water Tribe was on a formal visit to the North and was pretty shocked to find me there. He was acting strangely, but I was too absorbed in what I was learning to pay much attention to what was going on politically. After one of their meetings, he came to me and told me that they had finally reached an agreement and that I would be betrothed to one of the Northern Tribe men.” 

Zuko snorted.

“That must have been a fun conversation!”

“You would have enjoyed it I think. I had to inform dear father than I was a Southern Water Tribe girl and that it meant that I could choose whoever I wanted to marry. And that, under no circumstance was I going to marry into a culture that did not train women in combat, that would not respect what I wanted as equal to what my husband wanted! I told him he could forget it immediately. Nobody took that too well.

They forced me to go to a meet. 

 Which was very frustrating because I was learning about the heart - which is incredibly interesting by the way - and I had to talk to this council of old men who knew nothing about me. It was only when I reminded them rather… forcefully… that I was a master water bender, capable of taking out their entire army and that I would not hesitate to bring down the hall we stood in to prove my point.”

Zuko laughed at Katara’s dark expression. 

“I mean come on! We ended a hundred year war, I’m the youngest and strongest water bender in both the tribes, I helped rebuild and negotiate peace, I trained the bloody avatar! And now that I’m definitely not going to marry Aang, they seem to think I’m fair game to decide my future. It is not happening. You would have thought they would have taken the hint when I forced Master Pakku to teach me, but no, apparently not.

Anyway, after that argument they pretty much left me alone and I absorbed all that I could from the information there. I think healing is much easier once you understand blood - I didn’t need to memorise all the things the other students were learning - I can just feel it.

Then I found out that they had a whole other section dedicated to combat water bending. Of course, since I was accidentally born a girl they wouldn’t let me in. Idiots. So I snuck in anyway and read to my hearts content every night. And it was actually fascinating - they have no idea what goldmine they are sitting on! There were all the old water bending fighting styles, as well as so much on meditation that I was never taught. The fighting won’t do much good now apart from if you want to surprise somebody with something outdated, but you can take the same techniques and apply them to blood. 

There is this one where you create a square of water and you sort of shoot it at somebody, the idea being that they get hit straight in the face so it stings and they have trouble seeing for a while. But the way in which you do it makes it so that from rest the movement is very quick - kind of like some of your fire bending moves. It basically sends a shock. But what if you can do that with blood? What if, when a heart stops, you can shock it into coming back by shooting the blood through it quickly? Or there is this other one where you take the water from the air and you basically make it implode to one point - it makes a noise, so it is only used as a distraction. But muscles are soaked in blood and what if you can contract a muscle like the heart to keep it working? 

I’m rambling aren’t I?”

“A bit, but it is interesting. Did you get to try any of this out?”

“Yes. I left the Water Tribe and travelled back into the Earth Kingdom. I volunteered in hospitals as a water healer - but used blood instead. I learned how to remove disease, how to coax out poison, how to not only redirect but build bloodways. I gave a child a functioning leg that had been lame since birth. Zuko, it was incredible!

Except people started noticing how much better than the normal healers I was and started asking questions. Mostly I diverted them, but it made me uneasy so I moved on.

I decided that it was not possible that only Hama and I could blood bend. The more I thought about it, the more convinced I became. So I spent a long time each day in meditation like the scrolls from the North had described, and my control grew. At the same time I travelled to all the sites of ancient knowledge that I could possibly think of…”

“Even the Air Temples?” 

Katara looked down with sad eyes.

“No. Not the Air Temples. They don’t contain anything but air bending and meditation information - and most of it was burned. And I was scared of bumping into Aang.”

There was a moment of silence while they both considered the day the avatar had run away from them all. Zuko had seen him since, but he had kept a stolid silence with Katara - not even answering her messenger hawks.

“Well, you were in the Earth Kingdom looking for these records…”

“Yes. Except there were none. In Ba Sing Se and Omashu I found some really interesting things but only referring to water bending, and water meditation. I’m still at a loss as to why the Water Tribes don’t practice meditation anymore, it brings almost Toph levels of awareness of the world. But the rest were destroyed during the war. 

So I was angry. As angry as sixteen-year-old-Zuko!”

“Hah! That is quite angry…”

“Yes, well I had good reason! I felt like ripping my hair out - there must be something, somewhere about bloodbending! And as I thought, I realised the only place likely to have anything would be Wan Xi Tong’s library - but that is gone La knows where. 

Eventually I decided that, although I didn’t think there would be anything about water bending in general in the Fire Nation, I might as well look. After all, if there ever was something it would probably still be there - why would you destroy your own knowledge?

Most of the temples and libraries held nothing. Which, by the way, you might want to do something about - at least something updated, something recounting the final part of the war… There was a lot on Sozin but not much after that. Anyhow, I came across one Fire Temple, which apparently was one of the oldest. It was a pain to get to, on Ka’Bei Island. There is nothing else there apart from the temple and the sages who are crazy enough to live there - no wonder it hasn’t been touched in centuries!

It is stunning though. In a very derelict way, eaten by the salt of the sea and looking all too fragile in the wind. But they assured me it was safe inside. Thankfully the sages took kindly to me - some of them had not been off the island since Ozai took power, and others had retreated there to escape the war. They were buried in meditations and exercises and seemed completely at peace. They invited me to stay as long as I pleased - knowledge is important and it is the least they could do to freely impart it when fire had caused the destruction of so much, they said.

For the first month I lost myself in a myriad of things, deciding to meditate with the sages at sunrise, feeling the tides of the sea pull me with them. 

Then I came across a book that was completely unintelligible. Some of the others were old and the language was different to our own but not incomprehensible - just took some getting used to. This though, I understood nothing. It looked like a bunch of scribbles!

I asked the sages and they told me that it was an ancient tongue - they had yet to find out when it was used, but it grew in isolation at the poles of the world before the time of the first Avatar. 

It took me another month to translate, using some of the references contained in other scrolls. They told me that this was not the original - the original resided in Wan Xi Tong’s library and this was a copy that was made at the time when humans could freely pass the threshold. I have the whole translation here,” she said, opening the bag she had on the floor and taking out a nondescript and quite worn black booklet.

“It talks about all the bending styles, but mostly about water bending. These were my ancestors Zuko! I don’t know how they developed bending - here it says that they learned from meditating and being at one with the ocean and the dolphins. But I don’t know how true that is. I can’t create a picture in my mind of how the world must have been back then and I cannot understand if this was before or during the reign of the lion-turtle cities. Regardless, they could bend.

The whole text was written almost poetically. But I figured out what they were referring to. Blood is never called blood, but is called ‘inner tide’. There were so many things you could do with your inner tide, and I spent a long time in meditation - except looking into myself instead of looking outwards. I found issues I didn’t even know I had and smoothed them out. I let myself flow in my own bloodways for a while… 

But then I came across a long passage about the ‘inner moon’ and about how the ‘inner tide’ and the ‘inner moon’ reflect the true tide and moon. It took me a long time to understand that the ‘inner moon’ is your chi. So it was suggesting that your chi controlled your blood. But that made no sense! I started looking for chi in myself and the sages and I realised that if I did think of it like the moon and if I looked for that glimmer of brightness in the darkness of blood, I could find it. I could not find how it controlled the blood though. 

Then it struck me. It was a reflection of the original!”

“I don’t get it.”

“If I hold up my right hand, looking into a mirror, what happens?”

“Your reflection holds up their left hand?”

“Exactly! The reflection means the inverse. So whereas normally the moon controls the tides, here the ‘inner tides’ control the ‘inner moon’. Blood controls your chi. And each type of person has a different chi flow - or ‘moon orbit’ as they put it. Fire benders, water benders, earth benders, air benders, non benders - they all have different chi flow. And it is that flow that determines what type of bender you are.”

“So?”

“So, I can control blood. Blood controls chi. I can control chi and I can alter its flow so it does more than just one type of orbit… and… well…”

Katara held out her hand, palm up, and produced a flame. 

 


	3. Old Letters and New Deals

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ask Katara anxiously waits for Zuko's reaction to her confession, she revisits the landmark events of the past year. When she finally speaks to Zuko though, he has a deal to make.
> 
> Important for the progression of Zutara :D

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some background and in depth character studies of both Zuko and Katara. Thank you so so so much for all the kudos and please feel free to review or drop me a note! I've now planned pretty much the whole story so its just the writing that needs to get done! I want to finish by the end of summer - although I don't know how successful I'll be :S

Zuko stared at Katara’s open palm for an eternal minute before looking back up at her face. It was worried, he registered distantly, but it seemed a world away from his thoughts right now. He took a few deep breaths.

“Katara… did you just fire bend?” he whispered, face paler than usual.

“Do you want me to do it again?” she said, trying a meek smile to cover her anxiety.

“How… how many people know you can do this?” he asked, already calculating how much damage the knowledge that this was possible would do to the world. Of course it was not as if there was some kind of law against it, but there was a sort of unspoken fear of such a thing. The fact that the Avatar was inhabited by the spirit of light somehow made it alright. But if somebody else could do the same things without being bound to do good, to bring balance, they could just as easily create chaos.

“Two. You and me. Do you think I would let anybody else know? I told the sages that the book was interesting but too obscure to really understand, and that I thought it meant meditation techniques. They bought it. And then I came straight here.” She was looking down at the grapes again, nervously awaiting his judgement.

“So, let me get this straight: you control blood which controls your chi flow. By changing the chi flow you can bend different things. And now you can bend fire. Have I missed something?”

“No, you’ve got it.” Zuko’s mind was still whirling with all the possibilities this opened up, and trying hard to ignore the image of Katara - beautiful Katara - dressed in red and fire bending alongside him.

“Zuko.. Fire is, well its beautiful. Water is powerful, it consumes and recedes, it flows through life everywhere. But fire! Fire is a spark of energy - it creates and destroys in a second - it is colour and sun and freedom - it cannot be contained and it is as infinite as life itself. It is exhilarating! I love it Zuko.”

Zuko looked at her with wide eyes. Of course she would understand his own element better than he had! It had taken him and Aang finding a lost civilisation and dancing to dragons to figure it out. But she had had to study it and learn it rather than having the ability innate. And Aang… well Aang was a scared kid with the weight of the world on his shoulders - finding the true meaning of fire was never going to come easily to him at that time. Katara wasn’t taking fire for granted.

“The dragons would love you,” he muttered, mind spinning.

“Zuko, I need somebody to teach me…”

They were interrupted by loud confident knocks at the door. They both visibly jumped, leaning back to their original positions - they hadn’t noticed how closely they had been leaning into one another over the table.

Zuko glanced nervously at Katara and cleared his throat.

“Come in,” he called, trying to compose himself.

“Prince Zuko,” started the messenger - this one was far more sure of himself than the morning one. “The Youth Army representatives have arrived and are waiting for you in your office. How long should I tell them you’ll be?”

Zuko groaned. He had forgotten he had this meeting, and undoubtedly it would go horribly.

“Don’t, I’m coming now. Katara, this may take a while, I hope I can join you for dinner. In the meantime Messenger Wang will take you to your rooms.” Zuko hated the fact that he had to talk to two grumpy old men while Katara was alone in the Palace. On the other hand, he did need time to think through things, so maybe he could zone out for a bit  and process all that she had told him.

————————

 

Katara was bored. She was bored because she refused to think about the conversation she had with Zuko earlier that day. She was so nervous but she knew that she had done the right thing by telling him. Honestly, who else could she tell? Sokka was going to freak out and do something irrational - or let it slip out of his big mouth - or both. Suki was probably a good option but Katara seriously doubted Suki’s ability to keep things from Sokka. Plus, she probably wouldn’t understand since she couldn’t bend. Hakoda was absolutely out of the question! Although if he knew he would probably stop bugging her about taking a Northern Water Tribe husband; that little secret would get out and it would probably get very ugly. Aang would go on about what was right and natural and balance and blah blah blah and then either make her change her chi flow back or remove both her fire and water bending! Which would probably kill her.

Toph and Zuko were the only ones left. Toph was a very real possibility but she was La knows where on her own little missions - and besides, she couldn’t fire bend. And Katara wanted to fire bend before earth bending….

Shit, when had she made the decision to learn earth bending?!

Zuko was her last option. And actually she was quite happy about that.

 

During her journeys, she had sent messenger hawks to all her friends from various locations, telling them she was alright and about the odd people she had come across. Leaving out, of course, what she was doing. Their replies had been predictable.

Toph’s were sparse because she was travelling much too, and sometimes they would need to be sent on to Katara’s next location from the last. And besides, Toph needed somebody to read them out to her and then write what she said down - which had the pleasant side effect of being exactly what Toph would say had she been there, sarcasm and all!

Sokka and Suki’s were a clash of the two personalities (how did they end up together again?), and they eventually settled with writing separate letters on the same scroll and sending them both. Often they described the same things in entirely different ways - and Katara knew to trust Sukki over her brother.

Ty Lee and Mai always made Katara smile - Mai’s cynicism was light hearted for once, and Ty Lee always drew something entertaining. At first Katara wasn’t so sure about their friendship, but over the year that they had spent cleaning up after the war they had proved themselves worthy allies.

Mai knew politics inside out and her stern voice coupled with her impassable features made her indispensable in negotiations. And Ty Lee - well - she was good fun, although it still spooked everybody out when she did her acrobatics.

They both grew to respect Katara more than they originally had - unlike Azula, they respected their opponents - and Katara loved being around girls more or less her own age for once. They talked about boys and hair and music and make up… as well as chi blocking, knives, fans and water whips… but sometimes, when it was just Mai, Ty Lee, Suki and Katara, it almost resembled a group of girls in a normal town discussing normal things. It made Katara more confident in herself, in her looks, her dancing - she learned to flirt and chi block from Ty Lee, negotiate and knife throw from Mai, dance and manipulate fans from Suki. From her they learned how to cook and sew, how to hunt and gut, and how to really _really_ get on Zuko’s nerves. In the end, Ty Lee had been serious about joining the Kyoshi warriors, and Mai had suddenly decided to do the same, after coming to the realisation that she loved Ty Lee as more than a friend.

To be honest, Katara could understand that. The two friends were the only people in the entire world that understood one another. Nobody else had been friends with Azula. Sure, people had worked with her, followed her orders, been around her a lot but nobody else had crossed that line into some semblance of _friendship_. Mai, Ty Lee and Zuko had been the only three crying after Azula’s suicide. She had completely lost her mind and in a frenzy set herself on fire, screaming that fire was the most powerful element and it was the only thing that she would allow to consume her. Katara shuddered at the harrowing memory. So it was natural and unquestioned when Mai and Ty Lee took solace in one another’s arms.

Aang. Well. Aang never replied. She knew he got the letters because the messenger hawks always came back, but never with any reply. Whether he actually read her letters she did not know. He might have burned them immediately for all she knew. But in the two years she never stopped sending them, hoping that one day he might grow out of his self imposed seclusion from his friends. That day hadn’t come.

Zuko’s were the ones she most anticipated though. They had a sort of unspoken agreement not to discuss their ‘work’; letters could always be intercepted. Zuko’s meetings were mostly confidential, and Katara didn’t want anybody to know what she was doing. Instead they discussed people (whose names they replaced with numbers) they had each met - how annoying or obtuse or frustrating, lovely or kind or wise they were. Zuko told her about life at the Palace and she told him about all the places she was seeing. Eventually they started daydreaming in their letters - sharing little fantasies and dreams, stories they had come up with. What if everybody had wings? What if the Water Tribe had decided to dominate the world instead of the Fire Nation?

She loved these because when she was stressed or angry or alone she knew that in his letters she would find her same emotions mirrored or a complete distraction from the world they lived in. It turned out better than she had even expected - in the two years she had got to know Zuko in a way she doubted the others did. In person he was quick to anger and low in self confidence. He was always painfully aware of his tendency to say things in an odd way or not get his point across. In person, in the year after the war, she found him infuriating! He was constantly berating himself for his blunders and mistakes rather than taking the lead. To be fair, he had improved tenfold during that year, but she still saw it in him by the year’s end. In letters, though, he could think about how he was phrasing things and the conversation was never interrupted by fits of frustration or anger from either of them. She knew that he took time in what he wrote and that he was proud of the things he sent her.

She kept all her letters, but she re-read Zuko’s most often. In fact… she should have them just here…

 

Katara realised it was dark when she was struggling to read her letters. She sighed and lifted herself off of the silk-lined pillows, stretching her crumpled limbs and yawning loudly. She needed to do something else to distract her so she wouldn’t think about fire bending.

Food! Kitchen!

She remembered where it was from the last time she was at the palace, two years ago. Bare foot, feeling the smooth coolness of the marble under her feet, she padded down to the kitchens. Before she had reached them, though, a short, port lady that reminded her of Uncle Iroh spotted her. Katara smiled, remembering Lin from last time.

“Master Katara! Welcome back! I was wondering when you would call for dinner. Would you like anything in particular?”

“Its just Katara, thank you Lin. I’m actually quite tired and just wanted a bowl of rice…” Well that was a lie, she wasn’t tired at all, but she was nervous and she felt like throwing up as it was. “Oh and whatever Zuko is having, I will take it up to him.”

Lin stared at her in horror.

“Master Katara, I -“

“Please, just Katara.”

“Katara, I cannot let you do a servant’s job! I can take him the food myself if you do not trust any of the other servers…” Katara resisted the urge to roll her eyes. As if she hadn’t been cooking and cleaning and sewing and washing her whole life! Who did she think she was? Some spoilt upper class brat?! Plus she really only wanted an excuse to go and see Zuko and maybe put an end to this ridiculously long meeting. She calmed herself before replying.

“Oh no its fine Lin, really. I haven’t really seen Zuko all day and I will be going to his office anyway…” Lin still did not look convinced. “And I would rather walk there alone.” She added, hoping that it would close the conversation. Lin was still hesitant, but she bowed her head and went to fetch the food.

Katara sat down on the marble floor, leaning against the marble pillars. When Sozin, Azulon, Ozai and Azula ruled the palace, they had coated everything in red fabric so that it looked like even the stones were bleeding for the Fire Nation. It was one of the first things Zuko and Iroh dispensed with, tearing them down and ordering the palace seamstresses to make as many clothes as possible from them to give to the children and the families returning from the war.

It had turned out to be a good move - the poorer classes voiced their approval throughout the cities of the nation.

Now the marble stood in all its white brilliance, like fresh snow covering the slush underneath. She liked marble. It held all the coolness of water, even in the midday heat. Her thoughts turned to earth bending again - if she ever learned she would start with marble - she felt she understood it; the way it was consistent and steady, the way the ripples of brown flowed through the stone like small waves in a calm ocean or veins in a tree. Water helped create it, to shape it, and marble paid homage to the sea by sporting La’s markings for eternity.

Her thoughts were distracted by Lin’s reappearance. There was some exchange of words, a few reassurances, but Katara hardly remembered. Suddenly she could hear her heart beating quickly at the prospect of hearing how Zuko judged her.

 

When she arrived at his office, though, she could still hear voices coming from inside and she hesitated in the shadows a few feet from the door, second guessing her decision to barge in and interrupt what could be a very important meeting.

“NO! Absolutely NOT!” Oh, this was angry-Zuko. Katara froze, listening intently.

“Prince Zuko, we beg you to see sense! The Youth Army needs this or they will have to start after the dry season!” The voice was stiff and disapproving. She already disliked the owner.

“What part of NO do you not understand? You can’t ——“

“Prince Zuko you must listen —“

“No, you LISTEN TO ME! You would have me take food away from these villages to feed your precious Youth Army. What kind of message would that send? Oh, look, we are committed to peace but we are still starving our own people to build up our forces! And the villagers - many of them have fought in the war, they are just settling back in and producing for the economy and then you want to go and steal their food? No! I will never allow it! These people deserve to live in peace after a war that tore their families apart and that we shouldn’t have started in the first place!” Katara could tell Zuko was fuming by his tone - she had heard it many times before. If this had been a few years ago, he probably would have blasted the men out of the room. But she was impressed by his eloquence. It had certainly improved if he could keep control of his words in his fits of anger.

“Prince Zuko, we need the army to keep building so we can protect our borders!”

“And why exactly do we need to protect our borders? We have signed peace treaties with all the nations.” She could tell he was trying to calm himself down and keep a level head after his outburst.

“And you would trust them with the lives of all of the fire nation?”

“Almost every single village, town, city, island in this nation has people who fought in the war. It would hardly be an easy feat to sweep through the nation with that much resistance! Besides, you forget that we created more casualties than any other nation, meaning that their armies and depleted and in disarray - it would destroy both the Water Tribes and the Earth Kingdom economically, politically and physically to even try something like that right now. They want peace, they want to rebuild, they will not attack during the dry season. This can wait.”

“But -“

“That is ENOUGH. This meeting is OVER.”

There was a moment of silence and then the door banged open. Two middle aged men, walking rigidly with angry faces and chins held high in defiance walked out in complete silence, not bothering to close the door behind them. They didn’t notice Katara, bare footed in the shadows. She sighed. There was no way she could talk to Zuko now that he had been put in such a fowl mood. But she still had to give him food.

Stealing herself, she padded into the room. It was a mess of scrolls and parchments and open bound books, maps and lists and letters stacked high and threatening to shower the floor in paper. There was a heavy wooden desk dominating the right hand wall - a rock to cling on to in the sea of letters. Large, ornate windows stood to attention opposite the door, revealing the blackness of a starless night as it gaped in at them. Zuko was standing, his fists on the desk, his back curved but his arms straight, taking all his weight. His head hung limp and eyes closed between his arms. Katara admired how his muscular shoulders were tensed, visible even under his formal robe. Wait, when did she start admiring Zuko’s body? She quickly shook the thought out of her head and gently placed the tray she was holding on the desk in front of him.

“Thought you could use some food,” she said quietly, stepping back from the table. Zuko opened his golden eyes, taking in the food in front of him and then Katara standing nervously in the middle of the room. He opened his mouth to speak but she held up her hand to stop him.

“I know, I know, we’re in angry-Zuko mode - ‘Get out Katara!’” she attempted to imitate his voice but hers would just not go deep enough so it sounded like a pathetic rumble instead. It pulled a meek smile onto his lips though so it was worth it. “For what its worth Zuko, I think what you did was right. Although sometimes I have a bit of a fucked up moral conscience…” she said, recalling the words he had said to her before she left. He remembered too because he made eye contact immediately as if just registering she was in the room. Katara nodded, picking up her bowl of rice and turning as if to leave.

“No wait, stay. Or erm stay if you like? Do you want to stay? If you don’t want to that’s alright, you are a guest, you can do what you want, but erm it would be nice, I mean I would like it if you sat with me for a bit and ——“ Katara stifled a laugh at his sudden embarrassment and inability to speak - where was the confident future Fire Lord she had heard through the door?

“Zuko, its ok, calm down, I will stay!” She took a chair and brought it close to the opposite side of the desk as he lowered himself into his own chair, one side of his face as red as the other. They ate in silence - she realised that he hadn’t had lunch and so was carnivorously shovelling some chicken into his mouth. She registered, distantly, that although he was eating far too quickly, he was not making the type of mess Toph or Sokka made, and he still looked composed throughout his meal.

She however, couldn’t finish her meagre bowl of rice for fear of throwing up all over his papers. Why was she so damn tense! She took deep breaths through her nose to calm herself.

“You are not eating?” he asked, finally breaking the silence, indicating her bowl of half-finished rice.

“I’m not really hungry,” she answered simply. There was another silence. “So, tough meeting, huh?” he let out a whistle and leaned back on his chair.

“Next time I will tell them in a letter before they set foot in my palace, that whatever they want, they can’t have. They only know how to navigate war, making them cooperate with peace is near impossible!” She was impressed by how calm he was. It was probably due to two years of this. Iroh was wise in slowly increasing Zuko’s responsibility. If he had been thrown straight into being Fire Lord he would have exploded by now.

“At the end of the day Zuko, you are in charge. And from travelling in the Fire Nation, I think they like you and Iroh. Some still grumble about lost glory, but really there is no substitute for having the families back together - all the mothers know this. You will make a great Fire Lord,” she offered smiling. And she meant it. If he could keep his head through his frustration, Zuko had the ingenuity and determination to get things done. That was something he learned from chasing the Avatar for three years.

“Thanks Katara, that actually means a lot to me,” he said, grinning at the memory of her words that one night two years ago. Zuko glanced at the darkness frames by the decorated window. “You know I’ve been thinking of what you told me earlier…” he started, avoiding her gaze.

“Look Zuko, you don’t need to answer straight away, you’ve had a long day and maybe you need to sleep on it for a while?” In her mind she was shouting _Please Don’t Say No!!_

“No, I have thought about it. During these discussions with those morons I realised something; It has been too long since something beautiful or exciting happened. I envy the fact that you could travel and find knowledge for yourself while I am stuck here doing the same old katas and sparring with the same people, constantly afraid of hurting them. What you said this morning about fire is true, and I had forgotten. The dragons taught me and I forgot because I settled into a routine, not really thinking about what I was doing - what I was actually creating in the palm of my hand…” he held out his palm and produced a small flame like the one she had made earlier, staring deeply into it as if it had the answers he was looking for. “I need beauty in my life, something unknown, something different from the ordinary day-to-day of the Fire Prince. I’m pretty sure the previous Fire Lords turned to prostitution, feasts and more recently, war, to give them a change. I’m not about to step into a brothel, times are hard so it is not appropriate to hold feasts and parties - not to mention war…” he trailed off, still mesmerised by the fire in his hand. He took a deep breath. Abruptly the flame disappeared and he looked Katara straight into those big blue eyes. Agni he wanted the attention of those eyes more often! “So I want to make you a deal: I’ll teach you fire bending if you teach me water bending.”

He was nervous. She had every reason not to trust him - he had tried to kill her more times than he cared to count - and he had every intention of teaching her anyway even if she didn’t give him water. That deep blue water that was contained in her bright, intelligent eyes. But he had to try. The way she moved with water was something that had always fascinated him, and he often fantasised about what it would feel like to be part of something so…so…beautiful.

A grin grew slowly on her face and she visibly relaxed her shoulders, exhaling the breath she had been keeping in.

“Deal.”


	4. The Cycle of Sun and Moon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After making a deal, both Katara and Zuko try to learn about the other's elements. Their training starts, but they approach it spiritually - only then can they truly appreciate the kind of power they are holding.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N So this chapter is slightly shorter than the others. Mostly because the next one is a particularly important one. This focuses more on the spiritual side of things, but we are getting to some action, so those of you who like a bit of drama rest assured you will get your fill! Would also like to thank my kind reviewers - keep them coming, always happy to receive any comments!
> 
> UPDATE: the last section of this chapter didn't copy for some reason! Please read it though, it is important for the story

 

 

**The Cycle of Sun and Moon**

 

The moon disappeared over the horizon as the sun started to ascend. The soft grey-blue light of dawn seeped through the streets of the caldera and pooled in the royal palace gardens. Zuko rose and stretched, pulling on his loose training trousers and a sleeveless black shirt. Drawing his curtains open, he glanced down at the gardens. He had chosen a different suite from that the Fire Prince traditionally occupied - remodelling it of course - but the important thing was that he could look out at the gardens, at the flowers that flourished in the sunlight and the insects that buzzed around, revelling in the sweet scents. And most importantly, he could see the pond where he and his mother would feed the turtle-ducks in the shade of the great willow. He had seen too much of destruction, he wanted to be reminded every day of the life that surrounded him.

Now he noticed something different about his gardens. There was a figure sitting on the grass in the sun in a half-lotus position. Her back was to him and her brown wavy locks blew around her back on the soft breeze. He smiled to himself, and hurried down to join her. He didn't usually meditate outside, but perhaps it would do him good. If this is what the fire sages had taught her, he would gladly learn more about his element.

As he walked silently over the grass to meet her, he heard her voice being carried to him on the wind.

"Good morning Zuko. Have you come to join me in meditation?" She had not moved at all but somehow she knew he was there.

"Yes," he replied simply, and sat down next to her, took a deep breath of the damp early morning air, and submerged himself in meditation.

They both seemed to come out of their thoughts the moment the morning sun touched their faces. Zuko hadn't felt so alive in a long time; without seeing the sun, without feeling its heat on his skin, he had focussed on its energy below the horizon. He had felt how the slowly growing heat was infiltrating his world, how the light awoke a new sliver of heat in the garden, how the plants responded to the wake up call of the sky. He had only started considering all these thoughts, when the immense power of the sun hit him full in the face. The immediate surge of energy he felt at the sun's presence was amplified tenfold by his state; he had opened himself so much that the thrill of the sun snapped him back to his own body and roused him from his mediation. He glanced over to where Katara sat and noticed that she too was blinking in the sunlight.

Catching her eye he saw her smile serenely, just like she used to on their travels. He noticed how it lit up her face and once again loved the fact that she was wearing red.

"Well, Sifu Sparky, shall we get started?" she asked quietly, so that she did not disrupt the calm of the garden. Zuko smiled.

* * *

 

"Right, since you can already produce a flame and I'm pretty sure you can handle control, I'm going to teach you the fireball. You need to spread your legs like this," Zuko instructed, keeping his legs wide and bending down into the stance, "and keep one hand at all times by your side, level with your stomach, ready to be used. The other will go from the same position on your other side to fully extended while you twist your torso to give it power," he demonstrated sending a small fireball from his fist.

They were practicing in the covered arena. Zuko had it built especially for his frequent practices. Initially, he had used the outdoor arena but could not stand the constant quips of the spectators - usually some of the older counsellors that he suspected still had sympathies for the war. This arena was still large enough so that he could practice all his moves without destroying anything, and it was made of metal so that it wouldn't burn. Air vents lining the top of the walls kept it cool and it could only be entered through one door so that he knew who was watching. Life at the palace was hardly private, and this was the one place that was completely his own. And now he could train Katara in there since he knew nobody would see what was going on.

On her fifth try, Katara produced a sliver of flame and shot it away from her body. Zuko frowned and told her to stay still. He circled her, correcting her stance - lifting her arm so it was completely perpendicular to her body, shifting her other arm closer to her torso, straightening her back, pushing down on her shoulders so she would squat lower. He did not notice Katara's uncomfortable flinching at the contact.

"Try again. But this time, put force into it. The fire comes from your centre - let it become hot and then feel it travel up your arm to pool at your fists. At that point - and only at that point - you can let it go." After a few more tries, Katara finally realised what she should be feeling and corrected her own stance to allow the fire to seep through her body. The results were still pitiful.

In frustration, she closed her eyes and remembered the power of the sun when it caressed her face during her meditation. It had stirred something in her core; let her feel a power that only the full moon had ever induced in her before. Focussing on that sensation, she let it pool inside her until it was coursing through her veins, until her whole being was heat.

Zuko watched as Katara became more and more frustrated with herself. She closed her eyes, he thought, to calm herself down. However, he started sensing more and more heat emanating from her body. Without opening her eyes, she went through the move he had taught her - but this time with an energy he hadn't seen in her before. It wasn't gentle and flowing like she was used to with water - like she had been trying to handle fire so far - it was sharp and exact, her arm whipping out and stopping at the right distance. A ball of flame, one that consumed almost the whole width of the room, erupted from her fist and shot towards the other end, hitting it and turning the metal walls a glowing red. There was the usual creaking from the metal expanding, but he knew that it would cool down soon enough.

Zuko turned to regard the water bender who had just created a fireball. She was immobile in her final position, eyes still closed and breathing heavily.

"Tell me that worked," she said quietly.

"Open your eyes and have a look at the wall opposite you," he replied, a chuckle in his voice.

Katara did so and was pleased to see the red wall the opposite end of the arena. She relaxed her stance and grinned at the Prince, who was standing, arms crossed, just behind her.

"You used the sun, didn't you?" he asked, raising his good eyebrow questioningly.

"Yes. I felt it here," she replied, indicating her stomach. "It is really hot," she added, frowning.

Zuko rolled his eyes.

"We are playing with fire Katara, I'm not exactly sure what you were expecting! This is why we usually train shirtless." With that, he removed his black, sleeveless shirt and tossed it behind him, as he thought of what to teach her next.

Katara couldn't help but notice his toned body. Sure, she had seen it before, and she had always admired it from a distance, but now it seemed to strike a chord within her somewhere deep down. She felt the urge to run her fingers over it and lightly trace the contours of his muscles. He lifted his arm to scratch his head in thought, absent mindedly running his fingers through his long, black hair. She watched the muscles in his arm and down the side of his torso flex with his movement, and noticed how his scruffy black hair framed his pensive face. Her eyes fell on the scar from Azula's lightening on his chest and she scowled. She could heal so much better now; if the incident had happened with her current knowledge, there would be no blemish on his perfect skin.

"I'm sorry," she said softly, not removing her eyes from the scar. Zuko blinked out of his thoughts and looked, confused, at Katara. He noticed she was staring at the scar on his chest, not looking happy. He suddenly felt ridiculously self-conscious and resented the fact that her expression was somewhat disgusted when she looked at him. Sure, he was used to people being disgusted by the sight of him, but it still hurt. And somehow, it hurt even more because this was Katara looking at him like that - Katara, the only one that hadn't been repulsed enough by the scar on his face to avoid touching it. The good half go his face burned red with embarrassment and annoyance, and he clenched his fists by his side, digging his nails into the palm of his hands to stop himself from snapping at her and leaving the arena. No, he needed to be able to deal with this.

To his surprise, she walked towards him instead of stepping away, and she placed one dark hand on the scar. He flinched at the contact, but then relaxed into the touch. Her hand was warm, and he was reminded of the sensations of her healing him after the lightening strike. She shifted her gaze up to his eyes, her anger clear in their blue depths. He noticed that she had grown quite a bit taller and now stood only slightly shorter than him, her nose reaching about the height of his lips.

"I'm so sorry Zuko, you shouldn't have taken that lightening for me. And I should have been able to heal you better. Please forgive me?" her eyes softened at the request and he detected no falsehood in her steady gaze. He was also very aware at how close she was to him. Relief spread through his body - she was angry at herself! She was disgusted with herself! Without thinking, he placed his hand on top of hers.

"There is nothing to forgive. The world couldn't lose you. And neither could I. I regret nothing Katara," he murmured softly, losing himself in her eyes. They stood immobile for a time - neither quite knew how long - until Katara flinched. Some thought had entered her head, he reasoned when looking back at the moment, because without warning she disentangled her hand from his and demanded they continue their lesson.

Zuko was puzzled but decided to let it go. The place where her hand had rested remained oddly cold for the rest of the session.

When it was time for him to wash up and start the day's paperwork Katara followed him out, revelling in the fresh breeze. He excused himself and started towards his rooms.

"Tonight," called Katara from behind him.

"Pardon?"

"We start your lessons tonight. It has to be tonight so be ready for it. Meet me by the pond at sundown." It wasn't a request, it was an order. If it had been about anything else it would have irritated Zuko no end that somebody was bossing him around, but he wanted to learn. And besides, this was Katara. He nodded in confirmation and set off to be the Fire Prince.

* * *

 

Katara stood by the pond watching the sunset as the deep red colours dissolved into a soft blue in the water. She was bracing herself for what was to come. As soon as she did this, she would not only be giving Zuko as much power as she had, but she was also giving away a part of herself. She had decided to postpone teaching any sort of blood bending for now - a part of her still did not trust Zuko's fits of anger, even though she was sure he would never intentionally use it for harm. The incident with Toph's burnt feet sprang to mind. She felt slightly guilty remembering those times - nobody could deny how much he had matured and how much more control he had of himself. But she could decide about blood later. For now, she had made a deal to teach him water bending. And since he had kept his part of the deal, so would she.

Zuko left the last advisor as the sun was already drowning below the horizon. He hurried to the gardens dressed in his usual training gear to meet Katara. Sure enough, she was standing with a very distant expression while gazing into the water. In the half light of late sunset, the shadows cast on her face accentuated her cheek bones on her too-thin face, and how her expression was drawn into an inexpressive mask. He found himself wondering, as he had since she returned, what had truly happened on her journey. He knew that she only mentioned the good parts, omitting any hardships she may have faced. She had mentioned anger and frustration, but those were easy emotions to talk about. And they were simple excuses for sadness.

Without warning, she turned her head and locked eyes with him, as if to find something in his gaze. She maintained her stoic face and betrayed no emotion. Zuko didn't like it. He had used the same mask since sadness and regret and shame had overrun his life and he knew how simple it was to hide behind indifference. He also knew how unhealthy it was. Masks do not solve true emotions, they simply bury them deeper, so that when they do eventually resurface, they are even uglier than before.

This emotionless-ness did not suit her at all. Katara was always one to wear her heart on her sleeve - to shout and cry and laugh at what was happening around her. It was one of the things that had warmed Zuko to her in the first place; he had relearned how to live in some semblance of normality. Strangely it was Katara who had helped him, not anybody else. She was gentle and kind (when she wasn't trying to kill him, he remembered ruefully) and she respected silence as well as words. He needed somebody like her to reach a helping hand out and pull him out of the hole he had been digging for himself since his mother's disappearance. Only then could he truly appreciate his uncle and his friends. He owed her so much.

So now that she was struggling with some silent demon of her own, he longed to help her, to prove that he had learned from her. He did not like to see her suffer, even if it was in silence. But how?

Katara broke eye contact and lifted her eyes to the darkening sky.

"Give me your hand, Zuko," she said, reaching out for him. He moved closer, wary of her mood, and laid his hand on hers. Once again he decided that he enjoyed the feel of her skin on his, but was distracted when he felt something in him shift inexplicably. He noticed that she had closed her eyes and was controlling her breathing - she must be altering his chi flow!

Suddenly, she ripped her hand away from his, as if the thought of their physical contact repulsed her. It couldn't be, he reasoned, she had touched his scar that morning. Or was she simply feeling guilty then? Maybe…

His thoughts were interrupted when she told him to sit down like they had in the morning at sunrise. The world was being plunged into that awkward darkness between sun and moon.

"We are going to meditate like we did with the sun. Only this time you need to look for something a bit different. Having now done some fire bending and having meditated with the sun I know the differences. With fire, you use exact, sharp moves because you are controlling heat and energy. Water is different although no less powerful. Water flows; even at its most destructive it is all connected. A wave doesn't occupy a sharp space, it leads from and into the rest of the water, and it doesn't just disappear. That is what you are trying to feel, this connectedness. The movement of water is always a push and a pull; you must feel the power of the moon and then channel that power through yourself, just like the moon pulls the tides. It is not something easy to detect - it is like the fact that everything falls to the ground, it is something you take for granted, but if you focus you can feel the force of the moon calling you. It is calling your blood. We had to start tonight because it is a full moon, when this feeling will be its most powerful. Come, let us feel the moon rising together."

* * *

 

They trained for a couple of hours after sundown, but it took a long time for Zuko to finally connect with the moon’s power. When he finally did and managed to lift a sliver of water from the pond - reminding Katara of when she had first started - a bright light momentarily blinded them. 

When vision came back, a familiar unearthly presence was floating on the water; a girl, beautiful and wild and translucent yet emitting all the power of the moon’s light. 

“Yue,” breathed Katara, throwing herself on the ground in a deep kowtow to the moon spirit. Zuko did the same almost instinctually. He felt giddy with all the energy that was coursing through his body, but it was not like fire; fire grew and pooled in his stomach, but this seemed to pull him together and tear him apart from his heart. 

“Come Katara, we were almost sisters, you do not need to bow to me! Rise Zuko of the Fire Nation,” her voice seemed to be carried on the breeze.

“Yue, I’m sorry if I have disrespected you, I can take away the water bending if you wish it!” Katara had real fear and reverence in her voice, but Zuko felt something squeeze his heart; he did not want to lose this. It had been only a few hours but he felt so much more aware, so much more alive…

“No, I have come to warn you though. Not everybody is like the two of you, not everybody has your power, your strength and potential. Do you know what happened before the turtle-lion cities?” Katara and Zuko shook their heads, listening in awe, hoping that they could learn where the strange book had come from. However, Yue just smiled sweetly. “Then that story will have to wait for another time. Katara, a long time ago my children were scattered - those who knew most about the world you live in. They have been forgotten, but they continue to be drawn to one another, as I draw the tides. You will find them as some of your closest friends,” she said, looking down at them affectionately. 

“Learn well and learn fast Prince Zuko! The world has been thrown out of balance, but my students will always have the power to pull it back into place. I will be watching…” her voice drifted to them, fading with her image and returning them to a deeper darkness. 

Zuko and Katara stared at the place Yue had just taken up and then at one another, completely bewildered. 

“Well. I honestly don’t think that could have been any more cryptic!” said Zuko softly, trying to relieve the tension. Katara grinned. She could relax; Yue had told her it was alright to teach Zuko! She had also told her many things she did not understand. She quickly pulled out her black notebook and started scribbling the words Yue had uttered, exactly as she had just said them. There was more to this, they had stumbled upon something significant here. Zuko watched her, occasionally correcting a word.

Katara looked up at him from where she was sitting on the ground, closing her little black notebook. 

“I think that meant that you are welcome to the family,” she said with a smile.


	5. Stoking the Embers of a Secret

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zuko notices an increasing number of strange thing about Katara, but when she breaks down in a dark room, he needs to know why his friend is hurting so much. Does it have something to do with those burns? Or her lack of physical contact?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was originally twice as long but I have decided to make it two chapters to keep the story flowing! Chapter 6 should be up tomorrow... although I am curious, before you read it, can you work out what happened to Katara?Comment and let me know, it would be useful to see how much has actually come through!

**Chapter 5: Stoking the Embers of a Secret**

 

Zuko and Katara settled into an easy routine. From their time on the run (ironically, from one another), they knew how to keep their heads low. Zuko had barrels of water placed in the covered arena and they would train every morning after meditation. The Palace thought they were simply sparring, but as nobody knew who was bending the water and who the fire, they were safe. They had taken to meditating just before dawn, when the moon was still in the sky, so that they could connect with both the moon and sun spirits. It felt exhilarating to be learning something new. He didn’t even begrudge all the stately duties he had to attend to because he always knew that he needed to last a few more hours before dinner with Katara, meditation with Katara and training with Katara.

 

However, peace was not something that had ever favoured either of the teenagers.

 

Katara became increasingly frustrated with the heat from fire bending and decided to take a leaf out of Zuko’s book and find some training clothes that kept her cool. She shopped in the capitol - trying hard to ignore the hostile glares - and found baggy training trousers made of a light material and a short top in a matching red. It reminded her of the outfit she wore when she was in the fire nation with Aang and Sokka. Boy, that was a long time ago!

The evident mistrust from the shop owner meant that she didn’t even try the outfit on before buying it and retreating quickly to the Palace. To be honest, she was bored when Zuko wasn’t around. She had spent so long being still and researching that she loved the fact that she was being active again. But she needed to exercise her mind too! She decided that the next morning at training she would ask Zuko if she could sit in on some of the meetings.

They met, as usual, in the pre-dawn darkness, the moon dipping towards the horizon. Sitting by the pond they submerged themselves in their meditation. It became easier and easier for both of them to access parts of both elements. And sometimes… sometimes they wouldn’t feel different at all. Perhaps it was the garden; the plants needed both water and heat to thrive and as their senses became more in tune with the world, they felt how one flowed into the other and how they worked together. Heat was behaving like water sometimes, seeping slowly into every nook and cranny the world had to offer; likewise, water sometimes behaved like fire, rising up and reaching for the sky within the trees, and cutting paths though the undergrowth until nothing stood in its way.

That day in training, they started trying to combine fire and water bending moves; using moves originally created for one with the other. Iroh had been the main inspiration with his redirecting lightening inspired by the Water Tribes. However, it was only an idle idea until their meditations pulled them closer to it. Katara remembered something that Aang had told her about his lessons with Guru Pathik; separation is an illusion. Fire and water were two sides of the same thing - although what that thing was confused her. Life force, maybe?

As Katara tried to master another fire bending move - both with fire and with water - her hair whipped around her in a flurry, blocking her sight and causing her to trip, rather unceremoniously. Zuko rushed over to see if she was alright. To his relief, she started laughing. He looked down at her and realised something was not right.

The bottom of the short top Katara was wearing (and that Zuko was finding far too distracting for his own good) had risen up slightly as she skidded across the floor, and now rested, bunched up, just below her breasts. But in doing so, they revealed some marks on her otherwise smooth skin. Zuko knew exactly what kind of marks they were; they were burns. Burns that had been untreated.

His head started spinning with possibilities. They looked to new to have been from the war, and she didn’t suffer any injuries during the year they had spent travelling together. It must have happened in these last two years, but Zuko would guess less than six months ago. Which meant that she was already a prolific bloodbender and healer - so why couldn’t she heal her own wounds?

“Katara? Who gave you those burns?” he asked, tearing his eyes away from her body to look into her eyes.

Her face sobered. Her laughing cut short as she looked down at herself. Quickly, she stood up, pulling down the top so that it covered the scars again.

“I don’t want to talk about it.” Her voice was even and that insufferable mask was back on her face. Zuko wondered if this was anything like what Iroh went through with him all those years ago. He decided that he had probably been worse.

However, he _would_ figure out what was making her like this, and who had hurt her. As they continued, his bending was far more violent, while hers was subdued; he was angry and frustrated, she was suppressing her emotions. Neither ended the session well.

As the left the arena, Zuko made a split second decision.

“Hey Katara, could I ask you a favour?”

“Sure,” she replied, still in her deadpan voice.

“Well I have a bunch of people arriving tomorrow - they will be here only a couple of days to discuss trade options and military placement so as to not intervene with it. Since you have been travelling for so long I was wondering if you could come to the meetings and give your opinion? I feel like I’m only ever hearing half of how the people are faring. And… well… I value your judgement.”

Katara raised her eyebrows and her mask disintegrated into surprise. Hadn’t she wanted to ask him the very same thing? Could he read her mind?

“Yeah, I’d like that. But first I need to know what the trade agreements are…”

Zuko looked relieved to have captured her attention.

“I have to sort out some stuff but if you like I could go over it with you over dinner? I’ll be in the study.” She noticed he looked apprehensive while he waited for her response. She nodded and smiled, even though the smile did not reach her eyes. The set off in different directions, lost in their own thoughts.

 

* * *

 

 

Lin hadn’t even been surprised when Katara appeared once again at the kitchens to ask for her and Zuko’s dinner. This time she didn’t protest and handed Katara the laden tray, watching her walk away balancing everything with practiced ease. Lin shook her head to herself, unsure of what to make of the girl and of her proximity to the future Fire Lord.

Katara startled Zuko when she knocked and entered the study. He hadn’t realised how late it was already getting! But he was reading the same document for the third time and a break was more than needed.

They ate as he explained some of the background, and then Katara moved to sit next to him in order to read through some things.

“So… the military want to be present when all trade with the Water Tribes is done?” she asked, completely absorbed in the latest intelligence report.

“Pretty much. They don’t trust the Water Tribes at all. They think that they’ll try to import weapons and stow people away on the ships to then overthrow the Fire Nation.” He covered his face with his hands and sighed.

“Look, Zuko, I am not a huge fan of the Water Tribes,” she started and he looked at her in shock. “Oh, don’t look at me like that! Yes they are my people and I love them and care about them, but they are so stupidly set in their ways… I’m not in a good place with them right now. Actually, come to think about it, I dislike all the nations. The Water Tribes are holding on to their senseless traditions because they think that it is the traditions that makes them what they are. Which is bullshit by the way. Those traditions were created for different times, and their refusal to let them change, in order to ‘assert their tribe after the war’ is stifling the younger generations.

“As for the Earth Kingdom - there are so many people that it is difficult to keep track of who wants what and when! There are brutal mentalities like that of the Dai Li, and the old aristocratic families like the Bei Fongs are still in charge of everything. Since the Fire Nation pulled out, people have been grabbing power as much as they can. And King Kuei is a rubbish ruler who is almost inconsequential to the general population. Thank spirits Bumi knows what he is doing! Omashu and the areas around there are actually doing pretty well.

“The Air Nomads - even if they were still alive - do not involve themselves in politics, and trade with whoever offers it. The literally float on the currents the rest of the Nations are creating. What Aang is building is no different, but travelling is more of a challenge now than it used to be - people are less trustworthy and less inclined to help. So basically the air temples will be places of almost-seclusion soon.

“The Fire Nation is still ridden with power hungry monsters from families who believed in the war. They have not stopped believing, and are objectively making trade difficult for anybody external to the Fire Nation since they believe that all those resources should be theirs anyway.

“The only places that work - that really work - are the colonies. There, although there is some animosity between those who had been Fire Generals and locals, they have been living together for years. Things are levelling out in the places that have been allowed to elect their own representatives, and to be honest, you need one Fire and one Earth per colony. However, there have been mixes - and mixes of mixes - to the point that some people can neither identify with one nor the other. They call themselves Islanders.

“Having the military stationed wherever there is trade is only going to hark back to times of war. If you are truly worried about what is going in and out of the borders we need to find another way to keep control. It would be imprudent to trust any one group - and that includes the Fire Nation. You should post checks at the major docks - charge a small fee per cargo or something to pay the people who will be doing the work. They can check all items being shipped to and fro and for what price. If anything strange happens, you will be the first to know and take action preventing any harm done to any nation.

“They cannot be military though. I know that the military is marginally less inclined to bribery, but as I said, the reappearance of soldiers will only create idols for forces trying to reignite the war, or targets for those who hated it. I would suggest getting local people to do the checks - people who are trusted by their communities and who care about the place. They will be the ones who are least likely to accept bribery since it is consequential to them what happens to their home. Obviously you’d need to choose wisely, pick the peaceful ones or the ones that would be most grateful for the job.”

As Katara spoke, she was collecting various papers to back up her claims from around the desk, occasionally leaning over Zuko in a very distracting way.

“You’re right. I’ve been looking at this in completely the wrong way; I’ve still been considering ‘us’ and ‘them’. But the Fire Nation is setting an example for the rest of the world because of the chaos we have caused so far. We need to consider trust and danger from all directions, ready to give a chance but intervene when things go wrong.” Zuko sat back on his chair, rubbing his eyes in exhaustion.

Katara looked at him and smiled proudly. He knew that smile. Helping people had always made her happy - he remembered how she had stepped up to mother the group when there was nobody else. And now she was doing it again, although not in the same way. She was helping him again.

Their eyes met. He felt a tingle run down his spine. He hadn’t felt this before with Katara - it seemed almost too intense. Suddenly he noticed things about he that he had never dwelled on before; how plump her lips were, how her her long eyelashes framed her eyes, how, even though her skin was dark, she still had a light smattering of freckles on her cheeks. He wanted to reach out and touch her lips, caress her face and her neck and…

Katara started moving closer, drawn in by a strange electricity that was held in his amber eyes. They seemed to be smouldering and unconsciously glancing down at her lips. She shouldn’t be doing this, but maybe, just maybe, this time things would turn out alright. She saw the shock in his gaze ask she moved closer, and then his eyes softened and closed as their lips met.

It was as if his whole being had turned into warm water. This was not like the kiss she had hurriedly pressed to his lips before leaving last time; this was charged with some deep desire, and he felt like he was falling. His heart started racing and he instinctually deepened the kiss. He felt another thrill as she readily responded, opening her mouth against his.

Zuko reached up a hand and caressed her soft cheek before gently holding the back of her head, enjoying the feel of her hair through his fingers.

Katara froze against his lips. He blinked his eyes open in surprise as she disentangled his hand from her hair and moved away. She looked… frightened? Maybe? But the mask descended on her features once more.

“It is getting late. Good night,” she said, monotonously and left the room without another word.

Zuko was bewildered. Did he scare her? No, but _she_ kissed _him_! He wasn’t even going to do anything, but she was the one who initiated things!

Zuko sat up for a long time trying to make sense of what had just happened, his brain fuzzy from lack of sleep. Perhaps she wanted to kiss somebody else and got carried away and remembered that she was kissing him. Could she have met somebody important on her travels? Possibly. But she hadn’t mentioned anybody so far…

Maybe she still felt bad about rejecting Aang and thought it would be betrayal if something happened between the two of them? But that was ridiculous! That was over two years ago! And besides, he hadn’t forgotten the kiss they shared before she left.

She could have actually been betrothed when she was at the Northern Water Tribe. No. She would never allow that - and besides she still wore her mother’s necklace, not her own.

He reasoned that it must be somebody else after all. The last thing he remembered was thinking how strange it was that the thought of her with somebody else hurt him.

 

* * *

 

 

The advisors arrived the next evening. They had decided not to train and instead prepare some more.

Conversation was awkward between Zuko and Katara. It was prim and professional, neither one mentioning the kiss. Katara did not let her indifference mask slide once. Zuko was torn between interrogating her about what was going on and trying to keep things calm. He decided that they would talk once these meetings were over.

First, though, they had to get through a welcome dinner held in their honour. Zuko was always amused when outsiders stayed at the Palace. Suddenly, servants that he could hold casual conversations with normally, became stiff and formal - instead of one course eaten in his study, he had to sit through countless dishes and make pointless small talk with people who he really cared nothing for. Occasionally somebody really interesting would turn up, but by the nature of these things you could never talk to one person too long.

Zuko descended to the reception chamber in all his royal finery, the crown Prince’s flame around his topknot. Again. He longed to be in his training gear, but, obviously, that was not polite. He wondered idly if when he became Fire Lord he could do away with all the pointlessness of these formalities.

Katara followed soon after, and it was all he could do not to gape at her. She wore a light blue dress made of silk that billowed out around her as she walked. But the sash around her waist was purple, and so were the trimmings around her neck and sleeves. As always, her mother’s necklace was present, but her hair was tied in a Fire Nation style with purple ribbon. The material flowed around her, falling from her waist and accentuating her curves.

Now how was he supposed to pay attention to some boring advisors?

He tore his eyes away from her, trying to hide a blush, as he nodded to the porters to open the doors and let the guests arrive to be greeted.

People started to filter in - a small party, only about ten, and since they were staying for so short a time none of them had brought their families. Zuko skimmed over their faces as they took in the grand reception hall around them in wonder. He knew it would be about minute before any of them noticed him.

He heard a gasp from behind him, where Katara was standing. He turned around to look at her and reached out in alarm when he saw how pale her face was.

“Katara?” he asked, tentatively, as she stepped away from him.

“I don’t feel well. I’m going to my room,” she whispered, retreating quickly into the shadows and running away. Zuko stood, shocked and bewildered by her disappearance, and had just decided to follow her when the first of the guests came up to him to introduce themselves.

As soon as Zuko could, he ordered a maid to go and see if Master Katara was alright and if she needed anything. By the end of dinner, Zuko realised that he did not know one name of the people who were constantly talking at him, he was too busy thinking about Katara. Instead of staying for after dinner drinks, he excused himself and half walked- half ran to Katara’s room.

 

* * *

 

 

“Katara?” he called when he received no answer to his frantic knocks. “Katara its me, Zuko! I’m worried about you… will you let me in?” Still there was no answer. He rested his forehead against the doors and said, more quietly “Please Katara. I know you’re hurting but I don’t know why and I want to help…” He was about to leave when he heard something heavy being moved on the other side of the doors and one pulled open just enough so he could slip through. She shut it immediately behind him and moved whatever was in front of the door back there, blocking anybody’s entry. As his eyes accustomed to the darkness, he realised that it was the dressing table!

He frowned and produced a flame in order to see her. Katara screamed, a horrible, high pitched squeak and he felt water pelting him from all sides, dousing the flame. Zuko froze.

“No. Fire.” She said, breathless.

“K-katara? You’re scaring me…” he stammered into the darkness. His eyes were adjusting again and he could make out her form sitting on the large bed. Her hair was dishevelled and her face was shining. No, wait, her face was wet! He moved closer to her, and in the dim moonlight that crept through the cracks in the curtains, he saw that she had been crying - her makeup smudged down her cheeks, and she was still trembling. He reached out to hug her or comfort her but his hand froze.

With a jolt he realised she was bloodbending him in place.

“Zuko, please, don’t touch me.” She said quietly, releasing her hold on his arm.

“Katara… I… I don’t know what to say! I don’t know what’s wrong and I don’t know how to comfort you… Please tell me what I can do?” There was a moment of silence, where he stood in front of the bed, not touching her.

“You can go back to bed and forget any of this happened,” she replied hanging her head and trying to smother a sob.

“That is not an option. I can’t leave you when you are in this state.” She looked up at him then, her big blue eyes filled with tears that she let fall as she stared.

“Thank you, Zuko. Thank you so,” she sobbed “so much. Please don’t leave. Please stay here… I’m so s-s-cared!” she cried.

Zuko felt helpless. For the first time in his life he felt completely helpless. He had always had a plan - whether it was capturing the Avatar or defeating his father, he was always doing something, there was always something he could do. But here he was, watching as his best friend in the entire world came apart before his eyes, and there was nothing he could do. He couldn’t hold her, he couldn’t solve the problem, he couldn’t tell her it was going to be alright. He was just there.

He took a deep breath.

“Katara, please tell me what happened? I’m the the Fire Prince. I must be able to do something,” he said through his gritted teeth and clenched jaw, tears of frustration welling in in his own eyes.

She observed him again and shook harder than she had been, but after about a minute, she groaned.

“I will tell you everything, as long as you promise two things,” she whispered.

“Anything! Katara anything, just name it!”

“Do not interrupt me while I’m telling the story and please stay here tonight. I don’t think I can be alone.”

“Deal.”

 


	6. Spilt Blood and Water

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katara finally opens up to a bewildered Zuko. Somehow it feels like the situations have reversed since he is comforting her and not the other way around! However, the reappearance of the person who caused her so much pain pushes Katara into revenge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: VIOLENCE AND DESCRIPTIONS OF RAPE. If this will affect you please do not read!
> 
> A/N Told you this was a long chapter! Here we find out what happened to Katara and what she does about it to get revenge. Hopefully it should mirror parts of Zuko's past too, bringing them closer together. As usual, all and any comments or criticisms welcome! Thank you to those of you who have inboxed me or commented on my work so far! Much love!

**Chapter 6: Spilt Blood and Water**

 

Katara hugged her knees to her chest and tried to calm herself down. Zuko, unsure of what else to do, sat on the floor leaning against the wall and he waited for Katara to start. He was feeling nervous, and not a little frightened. If there was some danger he could see then it would have been simple; but he had a suspicion that everything was in her mind. A chill ran down his spine. Last time he had seen somebody lose their mind it was his little sister. He could not let something similar happen to Katara!

Katara took a deep breath and focussed on a patch of wall above Zuko’s head so she wouldn’t have to endure his reaction.

“I had recently arrived in the Fire Nation, intent on locating at least some sources of information. I took up rooms in an inn just over the border, and for a couple of days managed to gain my bearings,” she started, her voice growing stronger as she lost herself in her memories.

“The inn was pretty busy, but I always got a little table in the corner for my dinner. One night I was eating, not paying attention to my surroundings, and this man bumps into my table, accidentally spilling my drink. He apologises profusely and looks genuinely worried that he had wasted my drink and insists on getting me another one. When he returns he insists on sitting with me and talks and talks and talks about nothing in particular. I remember thinking, as I was sipping my drink, that I would have to find a way to get rid of him soon or I might die of boredom.” A bitter smile played on her lips before she continued.

“He must have slipped something in my drink. It didn’t take long, but soon I could feel the control of my body going. My mind was hazy but present, but my limbs were harder and harder to move. When I finally collapsed on the table, unable to shout or run, he convinced the inn keeper that he was an old friend of mine - and since they had seen him buy me a drink and talk to me they didn’t doubt it. He made it seem like I was drunk and he would put me in my room - so they let him take me upstairs.” She paused to brush away some tears.

“I knew what was going to happen. Knew it the moment he pretended to be my friend in front of the inn keepers. And the lock clicking in the door was my sentence.

“He removed my clothes, dropping me a couple of times. I was horrified that I could still feel pain, I just couldn’t react to it. I couldn’t bend. Finally he placed me on my bed and said - “ her voice broke “well… it doesn’t matter what he said.” She took a deep breath.

“By this point he had an erection - actually I think he had had it for a while. And he decided that… sticking it down my throat… would … anyway I choked. A lot. I thought I was going to die from all the gagging and the bile and I couldn’t… just couldn’t get away! I tried, really, really hard, to combine gagging with movement and managed to bite down.” She smiled wistfully at her little victory.

“It wasn’t hard, I doubt it hurt. But he wasn’t taking any chances. That’s when… he decided to burn me.” Tears sprang to her eyes once more as she remembered the searing pain on her ribs and her inability to scream and heal herself - her complete helplessness and the way she prayed for unconsciousness, the smell of burning flesh turning her stomach. She didn’t need to say that the burns she was referring to were the ones Zuko noticed while training.

“Then he - well - he was not gentle. It went on for so long. Every time he was close he would pull out and burn me some more and then continue.” She took a shuddering breath.

“Finally he finished. I was in so much pain everywhere. But he just left and I still could not move. I thought - I thought I would never be able to move again. I couldn’t even lift a finger - “ she sobbed, but then seemed to recollect herself.

“It wore off the next day. Thankfully his seed hadn’t - erm - implanted. I would have got rid of it if it had, but I’ve never done that before and I don’t really know how… I healed myself all I could but much of the damage was done. I ran. Now that I could use my legs, I ran as far and as fast as I could. I avoided humanity for a long time, sleeping outdoors just like we used to when we were travelling. But that didn’t help. Every twig, every scrape, every bird cry or wolf howl or frog chatter had me on edge. I could only sleep when I was too exhausted to stay awake, and I often forgot to eat. Sometimes I would go a few days or even a week without food, only my fearful exhaustion for company.

“I decided I needed towns - small ones with thin walls and people who all know one another. There I could secure my room and sleep. I would eat alone, I would talk to nobody, I would accept nothing from anybody. I had no direction, I just wondered for … I don’t know … a long time. I had given up. On everything. I was a wreck of a person, I couldn’t hold myself together. I let myself down by not being able to defend myself.

“In my angriest hours I knew that Hama and I were not that different. I could have unleashed everything Hama told me was possible ten fold on him at those times.” She spread her hands out and all the vases in the room cracked, sending pieces of pottery and water flying in all directions. “If she went through anything like that - who am I kidding, she _did_ go through things like that - she endured for years, I can understand! I would do the same… well… birds of a feather I guess.” She calmed herself from her violent outburst, and started again in a quieter tone.

“Eventually I heard of Ka’Bei, a little island with only Fire Sages on it. I reasoned that they would probably respect me enough to do me no harm - and even if they did, I would drown them and their temple with all the fury of the sea.

“I didn’t have to. They saw I was broken and they helped me regain my calm, they helped me accept fire as not purely destructive. I did not tell them what had happened, but they sensed that I needed them. I stayed with them two and a half months - I managed to live a semblance of normality, threw myself into meditation and research so my mind would not return to my dark places.

“When I first created fire there was only joy. I felt like I understood it, I felt like I had defeated _him_! He made me fear my own campfire, abhor the flames heating tea, avoid red like the plague. But here I had mastered it and he was wrong. The way he used it was wrong! And he would never learn the true meaning of fire because he was not worthy of it - like a butcher using broadswords. He made me scream at the slightest sound, run from any sort of physical contact and become a stranger to peace. But there I was, surrounded by the fire sages who cared, able to hug and brush hands without feeling sick, and finding an inner peace in meditation.

“And I was getting so much better.

“Then tonight he walked into your reception room. I just couldn’t contain it Zuko, please try to understand, please don’t think of me as pathetic - although I probably would deserve that. Everything spiralled back,” she sobbed, burying her face in her hands. “I’m sorry I’m like this, I’m sorry you had to see this… I promise that I will - I WILL get a grip … I just need time … and I _know_ he didn’t see me but I’m terrified he will find me again, Zuko…” She lifted her head from her hands and forced herself to look at him. She thought she saw smoke coming from his nostrils.

Zuko slowly stood up, fists clenched, and turned towards the door.

“ZUKO? Where are you going?!” she cried, panicked at the thought that he would abandon her.

“To commit a very long and painful murder.”

“No Zuko, you can’t!”

“Yes, I can,” he growled, turning to face her. “Tell me what he looks like.”

“No.”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t want you to have his filthy blood on your hands! And you promised to stay here with me!” her voice was rising with panic again. Zuko winced.

“Katara, I will be able to cover it up - Ozai’s guests had a tendency to disappear too… I can get rid of this problem!” Zuko was trying to keep his anger at bay before he set everything on fire.

“No. You are _not_ Ozai. And you promised to stay here with me. I won’t tell you what he looks like.” She was speaking softly. She didn’t need to shout, she knew her voice would penetrate his conscience. He had promised, and if she knew one thing about Zuko, it was that he was a man of honour.

Zuko blew out more smoke and turned to look at Katara, and old anger ignited inside him on her behalf. He clenched and unclenched his fists, trying hard to stay put. Katara watched him, having pulled up the bed covers to her chin, the silver moonlight catching in her deep blue eyes.

“Please, Zuko,” she whispered again, her voice threatening to break.

She was the moon, and she commanded where he was pulled. Everything was water - all life was water, and right now, the water that surrounded him was caught in a current pulling him to her. With that voice and those eyes his will was irrelevant. He would do anything in that moment to please her and comfort her. For the first time, Zuko decided to do nothing.

He hung his head in submission and walked towards her, retaking his place by the wall so as not to scare her. Katara exhaled in relief.

“You don’t need to stay on the floor, you can sleep on the bed - it is big enough for four. Just… please don’t touch me…”

Zuko blinked at her in surprise. After all of that, she still offered him a place in her bed?

“Are you … are you sure?” he stammered.

“Zuko, I trust you. I know you wouldn’t do anything. I’m not scared of you,” she gave herself a pensive half smile, “at least, not anymore.”

Zuko grimaced thinking of himself as the angry child who had chased them around the world. Various incidents entered his mind; when he crashed into her village, when he tied her to a tree, when he knocked her out in the North, when he had her alone under Ba Sing Se. In all of those situations there were people who would have taken advantage of her - but he would never have dared consider it. For the first time he realised how unbearably lucky they had all been to have found one another as enemies. Somehow they had scraped through, hardly hurt, from a war that could have taken so much more. How ironic was it that when she had been a helpless little girl she had been left alone, and now that she was the most powerful water bended and blood bender in the world she was hurt.

Zuko stood up, brushing ceramic bits from his clothes, and crawled into bed on the far side from her.

“You’re safe with me,” he whispered.

 

* * *

 

 

Neither slept well. Katara woke herself up screaming three times throughout the night, and eventually fell into an exhausted sleep towards morning. Zuko, however, could not get her screams out of his head, and they fused with the sounds of his own screams when his father had burned him in his dreams. He felt increasingly more useless as the night went on. In one nightmare he was watching it all happen, just as she had described it, except she could scream. He was running running towards her as fast as he could, but in front of him stood Ozai, with his hand gloved in flames held out before him. Zuko knew, he knew that to get to her he had to let Ozai destroy his face. He hesitated only a moment, but pushed forward and felt all the pain from the burns again.

He did not sleep after that.

Katara was sniffling and every so often her limbs would jerk out as if she were trying to break free of something, but at least she was sleeping. Zuko tiptoed to the door at first light and moved the dressing table as quietly as he could, and, by waiting for footsteps to pass by the room he ordered a servant to go to his rooms, fetch the clothes for the day and bring them here. By the time the servant returned, Katara was still not awake.

Zuko bit his lip. He did not want to leave her but he had to change. And wash. He could do everything in her bathroom, but she had to know where he was or she might panic when she woke up. Zuko returned the dressing table to its place guarding the door, and approached Katara. She was sleeping on her side, curled up in a now very crumpled light blue dress. Her hair stuck to her face in nighttime sweats, and dark bags blurred into smudged make up surrounded her eyes. Her face was more pale than he had ever seen, and had a greenish hue, as if she was going to be sick. But he had never felt so much affection for the girl lying before him.

“Katara?” he called softly.

Her eyes fluttered open, not quite focussing in front of her.

“Zuko?” she asked in a voice still muffled in sleep.

“Katara I’m going to wash in your bathroom. I am right here though, if you need me just shout. I’m not leaving you, alright?” She blinked at him, trying to make sense of the words he was saying in her confused mind. Slowly, she nodded and he walked towards the bathroom.

 

* * *

 

 

Zuko had not washed and dressed so quickly since he was in exile. He did not want to leave her on her own, and he hoped she was still asleep when he returned to her room.

However, he was surprised when he saw her changed, her hair brushed and her face powdered. The dressing table had been moved back to its original place and the ceramic pieces from the vases swept to one side. The bed had even been made! He stood, gaping at her from the doorway.

“When does the meeting start?” she asked. Her voice was brave and steady, but the red rims of her eyes betrayed her.

“There will be no meeting, there will be a hearing and then there will be a lifetime of jail for one man - that is unless you’ve changed your mind and you are willing to let me kill him.” There was _no_ way Zuko was just going to ignore everything that had happened! Even if she wanted to pretend like nothing was the matter, he was most definitely not playing along.

“You are not killing him. There will be a hearing, but only after the meeting.” Her voice remained steady and resolute.

“You… you’re going to the meeting with the man who made your life a living hell? Katara! Absolutely not!” Was he going crazy? Was he hearing her correctly?

“Zuko… when your father burned you and banished you, you did everything in your power to go back to him. You thought it was to please him but that was not the real reason; he destroyed your self confidence. It had nothing to do with him, it had to do with yourself. You had to go back to prove to _yourself_ that you had not been destroyed. When you had proved that to yourself then there was no reason for you to stay.

“This is the same thing. I need to show myself I can continue, that I can function even if he is there. I will do it to spite him and because I need to believe in myself. Can you understand that?” She was so calm. She was too calm. It unnerved him.

“No. I won’t allow it,” he responded stubbornly, crossing his arms over his chest. How could he sit there with Katara and this monster and talk about trade? This was insane!

“You really don’t have a choice Zuko. You don’t even know who it was. And until the meeting is over I won’t tell you.” She lifted her chin in defiance and walked out the door towards the meeting chamber.

 

* * *

 

 

He saw how she was getting through the meeting. She was either staring at the papers laid out on the table or above the heads of the guests. She did not look at anybody’s face throughout the whole thing, and resolutely ignored the snide comments made about having a woman in the meeting chamber. Zuko, however, found it near impossible to concentrate. He looked every man in the face with an anger hardly concealed behind his golden eyes, and, in retrospect, that was probably what made them concede to his and Katara’s plans in the end. There was a lot of grumbling, and vows that they would regret not placing the army everywhere.

They all got up to go, leaving their empty lunch plates by their places. It was almost sunset. Zuko fixed his eyes on Katara. All he needed was the smallest sign of recognition and he would act. And he still wasn’t sure if the man would make it to his hearing alive.

Katara, however, kept her expression neutral and started walking towards the doors. There were a few snide comments, but she reacted to none of them, keeping her head held high.

Then one grabbed her wrist. Zuko’s eyes narrowed and he pushed though the throng of people to get to them.

“Let go of me right now.” Katara’s voice was icier than he had ever heard it before, but it brought him the greatest relief. All her calm and composure was unnatural, but this iciness was what he needed to hear. He stood, just behind a couple of people watching it play out. She was not drugged now and he dearly hoped she made all his blood drain from his eyes as Hama had described.

“Aw come on, its like fate has thrown us together once again. Don’t tell me you didn’t enjoy last time.” His voice was low and slimy and Zuko made a mental note to cut off his tongue as well as his hands and his dick. If he didn’t know how to use something, then as far as Zuko was concerned, this man didn’t deserve to have them. The man stepped closer to her. He realised who it was; a Captain in the navy, the one that had been most condescending about their solution. Even his commanding Admiral had taken more of it on board! Zuko smirked as Katara didn’t back away but glared at him straight in the eyes.

“If you don’t let go of me right now, I will make you regret it,” she said through her teeth. By now other people had realised that something was happening. The Admiral looked from one to the other and frowned.

“What could a little girl like you possibly do to me? As I remember it last time you didn’t put up a fight,” he said with a wicked smile snaking over his lips. He was still under the impression nobody was listening to him, but both Zuko and the Admiral were paying close attention.

“Agni Kai,” she said quietly, eyes narrowed in determination.

“What?” he laughed.

“You heard me. Agni Kai. Right now, you and me. Or are you scared of water?” she mocked. By now the whole room could feel the tension between the two of them and they had formed a shambled circle around them. The man seemed to realise everybody had heard her and looked around him in a moment of fear before smiling.

“You better start running little girl. This time I won’t take mercy.” He throw her arm back down by her side and looked around in grinning.

The Admiral hesitantly stepped forward.

“Lady Katara, I do not know what you understand of our customs, but it is unheard of to challenge somebody to an Agni Kai for merely touching you,” the last thing he wanted was the girl’s death on their heads. Katara’s infuriated eyes locked onto his.

“Believe me, Admiral, I know much about your traditions. I challenge this vermin to an Agni Kai because he touched me without my permission, and because last time we met he drugged me, raped me and burned me when I was completely helpless. Unlike him, I give my victims a chance to fight back. I just hope he can swim.” And with that she turned on her heel and stalked out the doors towards the outdoor arena.

Zuko stayed long enough to hear the Admiral’s dismayed gasp and notice that the Captain’s face had lost some of its smugness. He obviously had not been counting on her revealing what had happened. Zuko reasoned that a lesser being than Katara would never have had the courage to speak out or fight back. They would have self destructed. Zuko hurried out after Katara, instructing the guards of what was to happen and ordering them to escort the vile man to the arena immediately.

“Katara?”

“Don’t even think of trying to stop me Zuko!” she snarled, turning on him. He raised his hands.

“Believe me, I only wish I could be in that arena with you. But… just don’t do anything you regret, alright? And for the record, you are allowed to kill him in an Agni Kai,” he said quietly. A wicked grin grew on her face.

“Don’t worry, I will only bend water. But I don’t think I will kill him. I don’t know. We’ll see.”

 

* * *

 

 

Many of the palace staff heard of the Agni Kai taking place, and within a quarter of an hour the stands around the outdoor arena became almost half full. The captain of the guard at the palace was in control, and he stood in the middle, holding up his hands for silence. An eerie aura of expectation descended on the arena.

“The rules of the Agni Kai are thus; you may fight your opponent in the duration of the match using only physical blows or bending. Usually this takes place between two fire benders, but today we have fire versus water. Water comes from behind Lady Katara. The first to make their opponent kneel on the ground before them, or end the other’s life, wins. If the opponent is still alive at the end, the winner chooses their fate.” His eyes flicked from Katara to the Captain and back again. He walked to the edge of the arena and scrambled out. “Begin!”

The Captain immediately started on the offensive, throwing fireball after fireball at Katara’s face. She parried with water with hardly a flick of her wrist. He moved to try and get other angles, growling with the effort he was putting into each shot, while she hardly moved from her spot. At most she shifted her weight slightly.

Without waring, her parries were coming closer and closer to him. The audience were confused as to how she knew where he was aiming - of course they were ignorant of her own fire bending training. All he needed to do was place a foot in one direction and she could tell where he was aiming. It was pathetic really. Zuko’s lips turned up in the corners.

The Captain found himself surrounded by water and spun around, shooting fire from his palm until it all turned to steam and floated upwards. He grinned maliciously.

“Is that all you’ve got, little girl?” he snarled, igniting his fists once more. Her expression did not change at all as she condensed the steam that he himself had sent above his head into thick ice daggers the height of a man. The audience gasped as they saw them form above his head while he mocked her.

Suddenly, she dropped her wrists and they implanted all around him, trapping him in a circle made of six massive icicles. He growled and blasted at one until it melted, but he had forgotten that water does not disappear, and within seconds it returned to its position, thicker and taller than before as Katara fed more water into her prison.

He was too slow; she could create faster than he could destroy, and soon the walls were curving above his head.

The audience watched, shocked, as Katara brought her hands closer together as if they were holding a ball - and the ice responded by melting instantly to water and encasing him in a matching sphere. He could not retaliate from under the water, and in his shock let out the air he had in his lungs.

Katara lifted the ball of water encasing the Captain into the air, so that even if he were to escape he would fall a long way. The audience watched, horrified, as he started involuntarily breathing in water and thrashing about - they were watching him drown!

However, before he could drown, Katara released the imaginary ball she was holding, and accordingly the water ball ceased to exist; all the water and the man contained inside falling to the ground. There was a sickening crack as he hit the floor, but he rolled onto his hands and knees and started coughing up water from his near-drowning. He did not notice as the water around him rushed to cover his arms and legs and solidified to ice again.

Katara raised her gaze to the captain of the guard.

“I believe this means I win?” she asked calmly. The audience exploded in mutters as they realised what position she had frozen him in. He was kowtowing to her! The captain of the guard regarded her with not a little fear.

“Ladies and gentlemen, the winner is Lady Katara!” he boomed as the crowd hushed.

“I think you will find her title is Master Katara of the Southern Water Tribe,” said Zuko, standing up and projecting so nobody would misunderstand him.

“Of course! Apologies my Prince! Master Katara of the Southern Water Tribe, what do you wish to be this man’s fate?”

Katara stared at the man still incased in her ice, her eyes narrowed in hate.

“I want him to be put in a place where he will never see sunlight or another woman again,” she called so that all would hear her. She then released him from the ice with a flick of her wrist as members of the guard made their way into the arena to arrest the man.

However, as soon as he saw Katara start to turn her back, the Captain staggered to his feet and aimed a fire whip at her. Somehow, Katara sensed what was happening, and she dropped to the ground, balancing herself on her arms, and kicked out in a typical fire bending move. It was water, however, that responded; a pulse of the liquid that was still on the ground shot towards the unsuspecting man, battering him in the stomach and sending him to the floor a few feet back.

He emitted a sound akin to a roar and made to stand up and lash out again, but suddenly stopped. Something quick flew through the air in a blur of grey and implanted itself into the side of his neck. Instinctively he drew the dagger out of his skin - but that was the wrong thing to do. It had found its mark on his main artery, and within a few seconds he was surrounded in a pool of his own blood, his eyes glazing over and finally his breath ceasing.

Katara looked to her left, to the point where the knife had come from, and she found the Admiral standing, looking down on the scene unsympathetically. Catching her gaze, he bowed in her direction.

“Impressive aim, Admiral,” she called out, nonchalantly.

“Thank you, Master Katara. Betraying his honour by not following the Agni Kai was the last mark against him. I could have waited to court marshall him afterwards, but I believe this fits both our purposes, does it not?” He turned his cold gaze to the people sitting around him. “I will draw up a report immediately recounting his crimes, if anybody is interested in reading it to justify my actions, please do not hesitate to ask.” The members of the crowd glanced at one another and many shrugged. After hearing how he treated Master Katara and seeing how dishonourable his conduct was even when she had spared him his life, nobody really cared.

In the meantime, Zuko had made it down to the arena to get Katara. When he turned around he noticed all eyes trained on him. For a split second he remembered standing in the same spot refusing to fight years before. He shook the memory away.

“Let this be a lesson to all my citizens,” he started, commanding everybody’s attention. “What this man did made him a worthless excuse of a human being. The law thus far in our history has been lenient on the violence many men show towards women, or indeed towards other men, because it was somehow made excusable by war. I am telling you all now that this will change. There will be no mercy shown to anybody who treats another human being like that.” He let his words sink in. “And I never want to hear protests again when a woman is present in any meeting. Judge a person on their intelligence, on their potential, on their achievements, but not on their gender. We have come out of a war badly damaged, and we all deserve, man and woman, to follow our own paths. If you miscalculate how you treat your fellow citizens - or foreign citizens alike - you might end up against somebody like Master Katara.

“Have a peaceful journey home. Do what you want with the body.

“Dismissed!”


	7. Springing from the Earth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the Agni Kai over and things returning to something like normality, there is still tension between Zuko and Katara that needs to be sorted out - and it does rather explosively. However, various interruptions punctuate the start of this fiery relationship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry that its taken so long to get this chapter up! I've had guests over so couldn't finish it earlier! To make up for it though it is twice as long as the others - so enjoy!  
> Also keep the comments coming, really appreciate them!!

**Chapter 7: Springing from the Earth**

 

Although the days following the now-famous Agni Kai had been quiet and somber, both teenagers felt much closer to one another. Zuko had a newfound respect for Katara’s strength and control - how she had managed to pull herself out of the darkest chapter of her life on her own, and yet did not give in to her instincts of revenge enough to kill the captain. Katara similarly saw Zuko in an entirely new light; He had done what she had asked him, he had respected her need for closure and hadn’t tried to interfere. She felt proud that he believed in her skills enough to let her take care of herself. It was something Aang had ever trusted her with. But Zuko… Zuko understood and believed - even though she didn’t miss his unwavering concentration, ready to intervene should anything go wrong. And that, in itself, made her heart swell in gratitude.

Katara started considering whether the trip they had taken years before to find her mother’s killer had been more genuine on his part than she had originally thought. Perhaps it was motivated more by understanding and support than guilt for the betrayal under Ba Sing Se. The thought of it made her smile.

Slowly, things started returning to something like normality. They trained in the mornings, and there were no more protests when Katara walked into meetings. In fact, the counsellors eventually had to begrudgingly admit she was an important addition to their discussions, since she had most recently visited many of the areas they were analysing and she was the only one to have a firm grasp of Water Tribe traditions.

Zuko did notice, though, how every day the dark shadow that had inhabited Katara’s features since she had returned was being slowly lifted. She smiled more - really smiled, up to her eyes - and her laughs were more genuine. There was a distinct bounce in her step as she walked around the palace, and in training sessions she was much lighter on her feet. It was as if an enormous weight had been literally lifted from her shoulders.

It was rare that the Fire Prince’s schedule remained empty for any considerable period of time now that he was acting as Fire Lord. Rare - but not unheard of, he told Katara when he realised he had one of these precious days coming up.

The sun had awakened the earth by the time they finished training, having taken it slow instead of trying to cram as much as possible in a short amount of time. They tried to throw one another their own elements, so that they switched continuously between fire and water. It turned out beautifully when Katara conjured an intricate ship out of mist and Zuko managed to take it over seamlessly as it continued its journey across the room. Zuko then created a dragon out of fire, leaving it shimmering in front of them, containing a burning wisdom behind its amber eyes.

Katara grinned. The dragon was the creature from which fire was learned, so she would create her own counterpart. According to her text, it was the dolphins from which her people learned water - but Katara had seen very few in her life. Instead she gave a shape to the ocean, letting it free-form and become clouds and rain as the dragon and the sea danced around one another.

They ended the dance, painfully aware of how close they had become, chests heaving as they tried to breathe in enough air to fill their lungs once again. Their eyes met, continuing the dance of their elements, although there seemed to be fire in the depths of her blueness and a calm, growing tide behind his golden ones.

Katara was the first to look away and step backwards, breaking the spell they had fallen under.

“Maybe we should take a breath of fresh air?” she asked awkwardly. Zuko sighed quietly to himself, then nodded and they headed outside to the sun.

The light hit them in full force as soon as they stepped out of the door. Usually, the dim lighting inside was not far off from the early morning sun by the time they finished their training. However, since they had taken things easy today, the contrast was striking. They blinked away the first impact and appreciated how the golden autumnal light caressed the gardens. There weren’t really extreme seasons in the Fire Nation, just slight accents to the warmth of the sun and the colour of the trees; a half-hearted impersonation of the outside world. In the most sparse islands, which included some of the colonies, there was no difference at all - merely more or less rain at different times of year. The gentle climate had allowed the Fire Nation to expand as much as it had, since it did not need to worry about the winter months - although the drier seasons meant that certain food was hard to come by.

Now, at the beginning of this pseudo-autumn, the sun had mellowed and the trees turned yellow and shed their leaves within a week in order to fertilise the ground at their feet. Shortly afterwards, they would grow some more, not needing to wait out the winter frost. The air was slightly more biting that usual, although still humid, with a cooler breeze ruffling the messy hair of the two teenagers.

They headed for the grassy slope that lead to their training area, and threw themselves down on the lawn to gaze at the clouds meandering through the blue.

There was silence for a long time, each lost in their own thoughts and enjoying the welcome cool of the wind.

“Zuko?” attempted Katara, breaking the enchanting quiet.

“Mmmm” he replied, not taking his eyes off the sky.

“I wanted to say thank you. For… the way you treated me when everything… happened.”

“You’ve already thanked me Katara. And besides, there’s no need. You would have done the same for me.” Katara allowed herself a smile. Yes, she would have. It was something new that she held the same perspective as somebody else.

“No, I mean in the Agni Kai. You didn’t hold me back or force me to stop. You just… believed in me I guess and let me do what I felt I had to do,” she trailed off, returning her gaze to the clouds.

Zuko frowned.

“I’m not really sure what you expected. I took you to find your mother’s killer and stood by you as you decided whether to spare him his life or not. This isn’t really very different, is it?” Katara chewed her lip.

“This is going to sound really horrible but I thought when we went on that trip it was just because you felt guilty and wanted to be part of the group. I’m thinking that maybe I underestimated you, and that you may have done it not only for selfish reasons. So I guess, thank you for that too…”

Zuko’s face fell. He had tried so hard to dispel the bad opinions people held about him and the idea that she still thought that about him until now was not a nice feeling. It brought back too many memories.

“Katara, I did want to make it up to you. I wanted to show you that I could be as supportive of you as you were being of everybody else. I felt dreadful about what happened under Ba Sing Se - you were so kind to me, you offered to heal this monstrosity,” he indicated the burned side of his face, “and I could see that you needed some peace from the things that were tormenting you. I did hope it would heal the wound between us but I wanted to go with you even if it didn’t help me…”

Katara felt tears spring to her eyes at the sadness in his tone.

“I’m sorry. I don’t think about you like that anymore. I haven’t for a while but this… well… thank you… again.” They fell into silence once more, their minds drifting back to the times when first one, then the other, was so filled with hate and rage that they couldn’t even be in the same room together. Now a day felt sad and empty if they didn’t see one another.

“Hey Katara? Can I ask you something?” started Zuko screwing up his courage.

“Sure.”

“Well… you know that night we were going over trade and military… uh… things in my study?” Katara stiffened. She had a very bad feeling of where this conversation was going.

“Yes, I remember,” she said slowly.

“Well you kissed me…”

“You kissed me back!” she quipped immediately. Zuko was confused.

“Yes, I did. But you were the one who started it… and ended it. And I wanted to know, well, why?” The question hung in the air as Katara took a deep breath.

“Why what? Why did I start it or why did I end it?” her voice was steady. She owed it to him to be honest, after everything he had done for her.

“Uh… both?”

“I kissed you because I wanted to kiss you.” Zuko couldn’t conceal a small smile at that. Even though it was obvious; why would she kiss him if she hadn’t wanted to kiss him?, it still made his heart flutter. He wondered how much emphasis she was putting on the fact that it was _him_.

“And you stopped because…? Am I a bad kisser or something?” Zuko regretted his words as soon as they left his mouth. He was just trying to relieve the tension that had suddenly formed between them. Katara avoided eye contact, fixating a very wispy, non-descript cloud.

“No, Zuko, you are not a bad kisser,” she started carefully. Despite himself, this made him smile again. “You put your hand behind my head to… pull me closer I think. But I… have not been good with physical contact… as you know. I was scared that I would break down so I left quickly,” she glanced at him to gauge his reaction. “For what its worth, it triggered nothing bad. I didn’t associate it with what… happened… at all.”

Zuko stared at her in shock as he processed this. Of course! Obviously! He hadn’t thought of it because he didn’t know what had happened to her at the time.

“I’m so sorry Katara, I didn’t know…”

“No, its alright. As I said, I enjoyed it. But don’t worry, it won’t happen again.” Zuko inexplicably felt light headed at her words. Did that mean she regretted it? Maybe she _was_ promised to somebody else after all!

“So… you regret it? Because I liked it you know…” _Oh yes Zuko_ he thought _that is definitely the way to sweet-talk the ladies_! Zuko seriously needed to address the fact that his mind seemed to lack a filter when he was around Katara like this. He wasn’t sure if the conversation could have been any more painfully awkward.

“Wait what? Regret it? No, of course not! But… wait… Zuko can you just be straightforward about things? Do you want something like that to happen again?” She had sat up, hugging her knees to her chest and looking down at Zuko who was rigidly lying on the ground trying to control the fierce blush that was taking over his features.

“I… well… yes. I thought that was pretty obvious?” he said, avoiding her gaze. Then quickly added “but you know, if you don’t -uh- see me in that way thats fine too!”

Katara rested her head on her knees, squeezing her eyes shut.

“But don’t you think of me as disgusting after what happened to me? I told you what he did to me…”

Zuko’s eyes widened in disbelief. Katara thought that _he_ found _her_ repulsive! He sat up to face her.

“How could you even think something like that! Katara I think you are the bravest, kindest, strongest, most intelligent, most talented and … and most beautiful person I’ve ever met. I could never find you disgusting - not when we were mortal enemies and most definitely not now that you’ve proved how strong you can be!” _The filter problem really needs to be addressed,_ he thought distantly.

“So… you… don’t mind the scars?” her voice was quiet, and she turned to him with wide blue eyes filled to the brim in tears. He gaped at her.

“What the HELL Katara!”  he said angrily, moving towards her and pointing to his face, “have you forgotten that I have a scar that has fucking deformed my face? Given to me by my _father_? Or one decorating my chest given to me by my _sister_? What the hell is wrong with you?!” Now he was angry. If she thought he could dislike her because of a few scars when he himself was covered in wounds then she was thicker than he thought.

However, she shrank back a little and shook her head frantically.

“No, you don’t understand,” she choked out, “your scars, they add to your character; you got them by being kind and brave; they’re a reminder of how … how … amazing you are! Mine, I had no choice in mine. Its not like I was on some grand mission to save anybody, or help anybody - it was an accident that I was put in that situation. It is a physical representation of my own stupidity and my own weakness. I… I can’t even look at myself with them anymore!” By this point tears were streaming down her face, her eyes searching him imploring him to understand.

Zuko’s expression softened. He shuffled over to where she was sitting and put his arms around her. She stiffened momentarily before relaxing in his hold.

“Don’t tell yourself that Katara. That’s what Ozai told me about mine, and that is more of a scar than anything physical. I didn’t choose my scars either. I didn’t know he was going to destroy my face, and I didn’t know what Azula had in mind. Yes, I got mine having done, retrospectively, good things… but you got yours on a search for knowledge! You’re the first person in … well … Yue knows how long to command more than one element! You have translated ancient texts and become the most powerful healer the world has to offer. A journey you easily could have ended with Hama by following in her footsteps, but you chose not to. To me, scars are just reminders of the times we have been through; and yours show how any obstacle can be overcome.” He was stroking her hair and he felt his own throat close up at the words that were coming out of his mouth. He hadn’t even planned to say them but as soon as he heard his own voice utter them he knew it to be true. He sniffed, holding back whatever emotion was threatening to overflow.

“Besides,” he continued into her hair, “unlike some of us at least you have the looks to pull them off,” he chuckled, trying to lighten the atmosphere.

Katara stirred from his arms and fixed him with an angry glare.

“Oh please Zuko, you are extremely attractive and don’t even think of pretending you don’t know that!”

Zuko looked at her as if she were crazy, and let her wriggle out of his arms. They felt slightly empty, but he pushed that thought to the back of his mind.

“Oh, yeah, because you can see all the girls who are throwing themselves at me - and I’m not talking about the ones that want my position and money. I mean my last relationship ended up with her going off with another girl! Look, I don’t need your sympathy Katara, I know what I look like,” he grumbled bitterly looking away. Alright, bringing up looks was a bad idea. What was he thinking? She was far too pretty to be with him!

“ZUKO! Look at me!” she sounded mad. “I have travelled around the world. Twice. And I have seen fine men from all nations and all walks of life. From kings to chiefs to warriors to traders and shoeshiners. I can tell you that, honestly, hand over heart, you top them all,” she reached out to squeeze his hand. _Well she looks genuine_ , he thought, _maybe she hit her head very hard at some point. Regardless, not something to complain about!_

“Especially,” she added with a weak smirk, “now that you’ve got rid of that weird bald-pony-tail-thing. That was not a good look for you!” He laughed in spite of himself.

They both seemed to realise they were still holding hands at about the same time. Katara blushed.

“Well, I guess if … we both … you know …”

Zuko rolled his eyes and leaned forward, closing the distance between them, and planted a soft kiss of Katara’s lips. She was taken by surprise, but as he pulled away she followed him and captured his lips against hers, savouring the feeling and the shivers that involuntarily made their way up her spine.

* * *

 

She was suddenly very aware of the proximity of his still-shirtless body. He tentatively reached a hand up, as he had before, and cupped the back of her head, pulling her closer. She stiffened momentarily out of habit, but then relaxed into the touch. This was a lifetime away from the last man who touched her. There was no similarity at all.

He felt relief at her subtle encouragement; she moved towards him instead of away when he had entwined his hand in her hair. Maybe he could place one behind her back? Would that be going too far?

Katara broke the kiss and placed her hands on either side of his face, forcing him to look her in the eyes.

“Zuko, stop hesitating. If you do something I don’t like, I will tell you - believe me.” She looked serious, although there was a sparkle in her expression that made Zuko’s stomach tighten in anticipation. He grinned.

He placed both his hands on her waist and lifted her onto his lap. She brushed away a strand of raven black hair that had fallen in front of his face and leaned forward into him.

This time Zuko could feel her body against his; the bulge of her breasts underneath her wrappings, her hips against his - but he was shocked when he came in contact with her exposed midriff. Her naked skin against his sent a buzz through his whole body and he found himself regarding the rest of her clothes bitterly.

Katara mentally groaned as his sculpted body came in contact with hers. The hardness of his muscles that encompassed her were rather distracting - and the fact he was being so gentle with her, his movements flowing like she had taught him to treat water, thrilled her even more.

Without warning, Zuko froze. Katara pulled away from him, worried, and noticed that he was blushing a shade of deep crimson. He awkwardly shifted his legs under her and gently lifted her back onto the ground next to him, away from his body. Katara pouted in protest, but then registered the bulge straining against his training trousers.  Her breath hitched in her throat - she couldn’t say she wasn’t impressed. But she felt torn between an intense desire and a gut wrenching fear for what was contained underneath that deep red fabric. Her heart swelled at the realisation that he had anticipated her reaction and moved her away so as to not frighten her completely.

He changed position so as to be less obvious and looked away in embarrassment.

“I… eh … sorry about that - I guess I got a little… um… over excited,” he mumbled, fixing a point to her left and trying to calm himself down. _Baby steps_ he thought, _her last experience was horrendous!_ He had already decided that he needed to build her up to it - if _it_ was ever going to happen. Which he really, really hoped it would. He was mentally berating himself for having ruined such a perfect moment. _It has been a while though,_ he reasoned to himself.

Katara took his hand from where it was nervously rubbing the back of his neck and squeezed it.

“Don’t apologise Zuko. Please. I… I will get over this. It will take time….” He nodded, still staring at the air beside Katara. “I’m impressed though,” she added with a lopsided, sheepish grin, trying to lighten the mood.

Zuko glanced at her in confusion, then took in her expression and glanced down at himself, his face reddening even more. He was flattered but had never been complimented before! He had no idea how to react.

Katara giggled at his apparent nervousness, leaned in, and kissed him again.

 

* * *

 

 

Their day of private respite from the pressures of the nation was far too short. After their moments on the grass they retreated to their separate rooms to bathe and dress for the day - although it was already almost lunch time, and the weather had soured, granting them one of the last rain storms of the season. They decided to spend the rest of the day in Zuko’s grand sitting room with some tea and a game of Pai Sho. However, the game hardly started before the two were rather distracted by one another’s lips.

It felt as if now that the first barrier was down a whole flood of emotions were pouring out of the two. Although they did nothing but kiss, neither had felt so passionate in their entire lives.

The sitting room was a wide open space with three large windows reaching from floor to ceiling on one side. The walls had recently been redecorated into ornate orange swirls on a cream background, reminiscent of a fire-dancer’s moves. The floor was littered with intricately embroidered pillows of many colours, one more large and comfortable than the next. The cushions were loosely scattered around low wooden tables, each with a unique tea set ready to be used - no doubt Uncle Iroh’s influence! The light, inoffensive colour scheme and the vast view of the grounds made it the best room to feel at ease in the entire palace.

And here the two teenagers were attempting to remember the rules Uncle Iroh had taught them about Pai Sho. Katara bit her bottom lip and she considered which of three paths to take to create the next harmony. No matter what she did she would lose a tile, but it was about weighing up which was least important to her. Glancing up at Zuko, she noticed how his eyes were not trained on the board, but instead were calmly observing her lips. She felt her heart beat quicken and an idea came to her.

She carefully let her bottom lip slide away from her teeth and smiled. Apparently spontaneously, she leaned across the table and kissed Zuko. He was surprised, but closed his eyes and enjoyed the moment, resentful that she pulled away.

Katara sighed.

“Come on, lets finish this game!” she said, making her move. Zuko gave her one last longing look before returning to the game.

He frowned.

He could have sworn that he had her cornered - that no matter what she did he would take her tile! Wait… didn’t he have a tile on the left of…

Katara stifled a giggle at his confusion. He looked up to her barely concealed grin and narrowed his eyes.

“You took my tile!” he accused in mock anger.

“Which tile is that? Do you mean this one?” she asked innocently, holding it up between her thumb in forefinger.

“Precisely! Give it back,” he growled, trying to snatch it back just as she pulled it out of his reach. Katara raised an eyebrow.

“I don’t know… I kind of like it. But I guess if you really want it, you could always come and get it?” she said, as seductively as she could manage without laughing at herself. Zuko looked at her shocked, but loved the thrill of adrenaline spreading through his body, and reverted to his blue spirit persona as he leaped over the table to Katara and pinned her down against one of the cushions, holding her hands in his and kneeling either side of her. However, the tile was not there!

Katara giggled and half lifted herself so she could kiss him again. Suddenly the tile was extremely unimportant, and Katara’s body under Zuko’s was all he knew about the room. He let go of her hands and wrapped his arms around her waist, lowering himself down so he was on top of her but not crushing her. She wriggled under him and he realised she wanted him to turn onto his back. In doing so, though, he pulled her on top of him - which she seemed to enjoy as she pressed herself onto him even more. This time he let his hands roam all over her back, pleased by her small shivers as he did so. Somehow she was straddling him, their hips and lips pressed together mirroring the other.

“Katara,” groaned Zuko, slowing their movement and trying to push her off him. He was far too excited again.

“I don’t care, Zuko,” she whispered, holding onto him more tightly and nibbling playfully at his ear, “I like it.”

Something snapped inside Zuko at her words, and he gave in to instinct, moving with her, letting his hands rove over her bottom and pulling her closer. Her little gasps of pleasure against his lips and the way she tugged lightly at his hair sent him close to the edge already. He flipped them over so he was on top again, leaning on his elbows either side of her face as her legs wound around his hips and pulled him down closer. Both their hips seemed to follow a natural rhythm that made their muscles shake; that made his erection grow to a full strength in a way that felt completely new with Katara; that created a dampness between her legs Katara had forgotten the sensation of.

* * *

 

There was an urgent knock at the door. Neither acknowledged its presence, too absorbed in the small world they were creating on the cushions.

The knock came again, instantly shattering their bliss. Zuko groaned.

“What is it?” he called, bitterly.

“Fire Prince Zuko, an urgent message has just arrived from Fire Lord Iroh,” called an uncertain voice from the other side of the door. Zuko shut his eyes and took a deep, shuddering breath.

“Put it in my study. I will be there in five minutes.”

“Yes, Fire Prince Zuko,” called the voice, and they heard footsteps rushing away down the corridor.

Katara’s lips were playfully kissing his neck in a tantalisingly slow way. Zuko leaned his head back so as to expose more of his neck to her caresses.

“I’ve changed my mind,” he moaned, “Uncle’s message can wait.” However, Katara removed her legs from around him and gently brushed some of his hair away from his face. She reached under the cushion she was sitting on an pulled out the White Lotus tile she had stolen, placing it in his hand and wrapping his fingers around it.

“You know Iroh wouldn’t write if it wasn’t important,” she chided gently, although she was dangerously close to agreeing with him.

Zuko sighed and buried his head in the crook of her neck as she played with his hair. He tried to calm himself down enough to be presentable and slowly lifted himself to his feet, looking down at Katara who was still lying on the floor, her soft wavy hair spread out on the cushions. He couldn’t resist kneeling down and planting one last kiss on her lips before brushing out the creases in his clothes and leaving without a word.

* * *

 

Katara stayed where she lay for a long time, enjoying the warmth that still surrounded her, his scent left on the cushions around her. However, as time drew on it all faded and she was left to her thoughts. There was a strange fear in the pit of her stomach, entwined with a fierce pleasure and longing; what _was_ this thing they had? She told herself it was  a fling - it had all happened today after all! Tomorrow was a new day, maybe things would not feel the same. Even as she told herself this she knew it had been coming much longer than a day and that it was already much more than just a fling.

Her imagination ran away with her and pictured herself as Fire Lady - would she even be allowed? Would they accept her? They already let her into important decisions - so it couldn’t be that far from everybody’s minds! Or would they insist he marry a fire nation noblewoman? Would he want to keep her as a whore?

No. She would never be that. She was a jealous person, thinking that he was sleeping with somebody else as well as her would hurt far too much.

Wait, when had she decided to sleep with him? What did she even _want_ to happen?

Katara groaned, clutching her head and went to bed early without any dinner.

 

* * *

 

 

The next day they meditated in silence as usual and made their way to their training area stealing calculating glances at one another but saying nothing. Both had been tormented with thoughts for the future and had tried to reassure themselves that it was nothing. Seeing one another again, though, was a complete contradiction to their self-assurances.

The metal door clanged shut behind them and Zuko removed his shirt as he always did, kicking it into a corner. When he turned around, Katara was already in a stance and sent a water whip his way. She wanted to fight, she wanted to let out her frustration with herself and the situation even though she already knew she could do nothing to change the way she felt.

He intercepted it easily and returned it in the form of ice spikes. She ducked out of the way and caught them before they could reach the ground, melting them into steam that filled the room. She sent the vapour to Zuko surrounding him and liquidised it simultaneously, drenching him in water.

Zuko couldn’t help but joining in Katara’s laugh as he stood spluttering in the middle of the arena before bending the water out of his clothes and hair.

“Wait Katara! Stop! I’ve had a thought… could you go outside and get a few sticks?” said Zuko, calming his breath and sporting a strange thoughtful look.

“Eh… sure?” she left to track down some bits of wood.

When she returned, her arms full of sticks of various sizes, he had not moved at all, and stood with his eyes closed in deep concentration.

“Right, lets hear this idea then?” she said, smiling and letting the wood clatter to the floor, kicking the door shut behind her. Zuko turned to regard her, looking slightly embarrassed.

“I’m not sure if this will work… but with water there are different things you can do; you can make mist, water or ice… and you can pull moisture from things around you all the time right? So basically you are concentrating all the water from the surroundings in one place - its like you are redistributing it. Water and fire - we know - are not as different as we thought they were, so what if I can do the same thing with fire? If mist or moisture can be condensed to create water, then can heat be condensed to create fire? One of the main problems with fire bending is that the fire we create runs out of fuel, so to hold anything stationary we have to continually feed it…”

Katara frowned. This was all important, but she wasn’t sure where this was going.

“So I’m going to try and create an area of intense heat… and when I tell you to, could you throw some wood into the space?” Katara raised her eyebrows but nodded.

Zuko turned his back to her and concentrated once more, sinking into a low, stable stance and spreading his arms wide. He then slowly brought them in, rotating them as if compressing a ball in front of him. Katara felt the air around her grow very cold and started shivering. She tried to create some fire to warm herself up but swallowed a cry of surprise when she was unable to do so.

“Now Katara,” called Zuko in a strained voice.

Shivering, Katara picked up a stick and threw it to the area of space in front of him. As soon as it made contact with the shimmering mass of heat in the centre of the arena it burst into flames, completely ash before even reaching the ground.

Katara forgot about the cold and threw more and more sticks into the heat until all that was left was a heap of ash on the floor. Zuko relaxed his stance and spread his arms out. Katara could feel the warmth coming back to her, flowing around her like a stream of water would. It gave her power and she instinctively produced a small flame in the palm of her hand, relieved she could do so again. They observed one another. Zuko frowned.

“Katara, your lips are blue!” he exclaimed, pinpointing what seemed off with her.

“You kind of took away all the heat in the room, Zuko,” she said, shrugging. His eyes widened and he hurried over to her, instinctually hugging her in apology.

“I’m so sorry! I didn’t think this through!” he murmured into her hair.

The feel of his arms surrounding her once again made Katara decide then and there that she wouldn’t resist temptation anymore. The consequences would rear their ugly head eventually, but for now she had gone through too much sorrow to deny herself this.

As Zuko pulled away he noticed a mischievous glint in her eyes.

“It was really horrible,” she said in a mock hurt tone, looking up at him with large, innocent eyes, “the least you could do is warm my lips up for me…”

A grin spread across Zuko’s face, as he leaned down to obediently press his lips against hers.

Like the day before, the contact triggered something within both of them. Suddenly her arms were wrapped around his neck, her hands playing in his hair, while his held her waist tightly against him. Without thinking, he let his hands drop so they tugged at the back of her thighs, and sensing what he wanted, Katara jumped up and wrapped her legs just above his waist, feeling him growing beneath her. His strong arms held her weight easily, and her new position gave him access to her neck where he trailed kisses up and down.

“Maybe I should do this more often,” he mumbled into the hollow underneath her ear.

* * *

 

Suddenly there was a deafening scraping sound and light flooded into the arena, before a matching sound and the light returning to normal. Zuko turned, still clutching Katara, towards the noise and was shocked to see Toph standing inside the arena, having just metal bent her way into it. Zuko’s jaw dropped, and his face started burning in embarrassment as he lowered Katara gently to the floor.

As soon as her feet reached the ground, Toph’s eyebrows raised inquisitively, then her eyes widened in realisation.

“Oh wow! Were you two just… do you even have clothes on? Might want to calm yourself down there Fire Prince - I might not be able to see, but I sure know what that kind of heartbeat means!”

 

 

 

 


	8. Finding the Right Path

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Toph opens up to Katara and reveals her depressed state of mind. Katara needs to find something with which to help Toph with, and begins really considering the message from Yue. Sneaking into Zuko's room after Toph had gone to sleep, they discuss Katara's thoughts... and end up in one another's arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have put the promised note on an analysis of Katara (and Toph)'s sexualities at the end as I feel the chapter will probably explain as much as a note could. So here we go, Chapter 8! A bit more Zutara on the plate and the introduction to the next phase of the adventure! Keep those private messages and comments coming, always good to get feedback and suggestions!

**Chapter 8: Finding the Right Path**

"Aren't you a little young to know what that kind of heartbeat means?" retorted Katara with a nervous laugh, composing herself while Zuko was still opening and closing is mouth like a gaping fish. Toph had just metal bent her way into his private arena while he and Katara were getting more than comfortable in one another's arms.

Toph stood taller than either had seen her, and had lost much of her childish fat, leaving her much thinner and more shapely than before. Her figure could even be described as delicate when she wore some of her traditional dresses — but she was rarely seen to do so.

"Ha!" she replied, flicking her head so that some of her bangs moved from her face, "I'm fifteen…Tell me Sugar Queen, how old were you with Jet?" Toph grinned broadly. She already knew she had won this.

"I… That's beside the point! It was war, we could have died any day!" defended Katara, feeling her face redden.

"Yeah well, Sweetness, you weren't the only one who grew up during the war — we're all children of conflict here and we all grew up far too fast. But, whatcha gonna do about it - I was never going to get my kicks from normal things! Might as well enjoy what we've got - I see you two are taking that on board," she said nonchalantly but with a strange drawn expression hovering over her features.

It was true. All of them had been thrown into a world that adults found hard to navigate. They were all too young and too innocent — but somehow, against all odds, they had survived. But surviving had cost them their innocence and their childhood. There they stood, considering their lives and the way they had been affected. Toph, 15 years old, had fought against her parents' captivity and left home at 12. Katara, now 17, had taken her mother's place at far too young an age. Zuko, 19, had never felt his father's love and had been banished at the age of 13. The start of each of their journeys had thrown them together at the hardest of times. None of them could relate to a normal child's found solace in other people like themselves, but mostly in one another. There was no need for explanations for their sadness when they remembered the war, nor pity when they confessed what had happened to them. Simply understanding and camaraderie.

They snapped out of their reverie as Katara approached Toph and threw her arms around her. Surprisingly, Toph didn't squirm away as she usually did - instead she hugged her back tightly, feeling tears prickling behind her eyes. She had missed them. This was her true family after all.

"I'm glad you have clothes on Sweetness! Not that I would have minded…" she added. Katara considered the girl in front of her.

"Do you play for both sides Toph?" asked Katara, slightly surprised. She had never noticed this preference in her friend before.

"Mmmm you could say that. You want to watch out Fire Prince Sparky," she giggled, winking at him. "Right, well I will leave you to get decent and meet you in that room with all the cushions and tea," she said confidently. "I'll take my hug from you when you are less… ah… preoccupied with other things… Bye!" and with that she bent her way out the same way she came.

"I'm fine now!" Zuko called after her. He was still standing where he and Katara had been embraced, and looked stunned at the exchange that had just happened. Since when had these girls he had grown up with become so open and confident about their sexuality?

Katara walked back to him, apparently at ease now, and wrapped her arms around him for a quick kiss.

"Katara you know I can't stay long with you and Toph… I've got those reports from the colonies to get through," he said regretfully. Although he would have preferred it if Toph had not interrupted them, spending time with the two girls was second on his list of things he would rather be doing.

"No, I understand. At least stay for a cup of tea?" she asked, looking up at him hopefully. He kissed her nose gently.

"One cup," he promised. Katara smiled up at him. "Why do we  _always_  get interrupted though!" he moaned as they walked out of the arena. "I build a fucking impenetrable metallic arena and of course the world's only metal bender has to arrive," he grumbled half to himself.

* * *

Zuko couldn't keep his one-cup-of-tea promise before being called away, leaving Toph and Katara alone to catch up.

"So, Sweetness, heard what happened with you and that general…" started Toph. She was never one to be subtle about hard conversations. Katara sighed, forcing down another gulp of tea.

"It was a captain. How did you hear about that?" she asked quietly. Toph shrugged.

"News spreads pretty quickly when you know what to listen for. Although I think the story may have been exaggerated somewhat… One version makes you some merciful saviour while the next tells of the bloodthirsty water bender! Did you really skewer him with an icicle eight feet long?" She was leaning forward now, all interest and excitement. Katara let out the breath she had been holding quietly - Toph wanted to talk about the Agni Kai, not the reason for it.

"No, I did not! I did trap him in a ball of water suspended in the air until he almost drowned…" Toph made an appreciative noise, "But I didn't kill him - I spared him his life. His admiral killed him when he had lost and still attacked me. You aren't supposed to do that in an Agni Kai and apparently its a big deal."

"You didn't kill him? Why? He fucking deserved it!" grumbled Toph, slightly put out by the lack of violence.

"It was supposed to be a political move; as in if he could rot in a deep, dark jail for the rest of his life then people might get the message that it is not alright and not pass it off as personal revenge… as it turned out, though, the admiral's finale brought much more attention to the situation. I hope it sends a message," she explained bitterly.

"I think it did. There are little girls all over wanting to be you! They were doing it all wrong though, I had to teach them to be more bossy!" Toph grinned as Katara punched her playfully in the arm.

"How are you though Toph? What have you been doing?"

"Eh, this and that. Mama and papa Bei Fong have finally accepted the fact that I'm my own person, so at least that is sorted out." Toph took a sip of her tea.

"That's wonderful Toph! Its good you can go back to your family. You really missed them," encouraged Katara, not without sadness at the thought of the split in her own family since she had met her father in the North Pole.

"They still need work, but I'm happy about it. Other than that I've just been travelling and rebuilding. I spent a lot of time in Omashu with Bumi - I love that guy! He's amazing! And… eh… yeah. I can't compete in the Earth Rumble anymore because apparently 'it isn't a competition if you always win'," Toph made a face, "Those stupid cowardly bastards! I'll tell you what though, I'm sort of craving something long to do. I've… I've not been happy recently. Maybe happy isn't the right word. Maybe 'content' is a better word. I just feel like there is something missing," she looked down at her hands, a sadness lining her features that made her look much, much older than she was.

"Oh Toph," said Katara quietly, reaching out and taking her hand.

"Its alright. I'm not the type to give in… I just… I guess I'm just a little lost," she admitted, a familiar lump rising in her throat. Somewhere in the back of Toph's mind a younger version of herself was horrified at her breaking down in front of Katara - but a wiser version told her that Katara was probably the only person who could help her. She had been more of a mother to her than her own mother, and she needed someone - anyone - to understand. Katara had gone through shit, so she would probably get it… right? "I just, I don't know if I can ever find a path again," she continued, letting tears slide out of her sightless eyes. "Its as if everything is dull - like I'm feeling everything through sand and I'm stumbling around in the middle of nowhere!" she choked out. She felt Katara shift and found herself wrapped in the older girl's arms.

"I know how it feels," she cooed into Toph's black hair, "everything is distant and you can't connect to reality. You feel like you've been swallowed up somewhere and you might never feel the sunlight on your skin again. You are cold even in the sweltering heat, and physical pain hardly affects you at all. You try everything to force some life back into your system but nothing works." Toph nodded into her shoulder, overcome by an intense gratefulness for Katara's understanding.

"But you are still here Toph, and you will get through this. It is horrible and affects every part of your life, but I'll help you. Stay here for a while? Zuko and I know very well how you are feeling. You shouldn't be alone right now," she continued gently, rocking Toph in her arms.

"Thank you K—Katara!" sobbed Toph, shaking in her arms.

"Hey, thats what we do for family," she whispered, her own throat closing at her words.

* * *

Toph had fallen asleep instantly after her exhausting day. Katara listened for her light snoring at her door before walking past and heading for Zuko's rooms. She knocked but received no answer, and so peaked in to find the room still dark and uninhabited. Quietly, she entered, shutting the door behind her and lighting the candles adorning the room.

It was late. Where was he?

She looked around his room and settled in one of the armchairs to wait. However, as time ticked on, she became uncomfortable and drifted to the large double bed. She lay down on it - just to see what it was like - she told herself. As soon as her head touched the soft pillow, though, she too fell asleep.

* * *

Zuko finished reading through the uselessly detailed reports very late into the night. He made a note to hire somebody to go through the reports for him and only hand him the ones that were worth reading. Sighing, he put out the lights and wondered towards his room. He frowned. There was light coming from under his door…

Slowly, he crept to the room and pushed the door ajar quietly to peak in. He relaxed as he took in the half melted candles and a sleeping Katara on his bed. He felt an inexplicable surge of pride at the sight of her in  _his_  bed. Zuko hovered in the doorway, unsure whether to take her back to her room or to leave her sleeping as she was. He bit his lip. He should ask.

Gently, he tapped her shoulder and called her name. Her eyes cracked open, before she realised where she was and she sat up blinking away the cobwebs of sleep.

"I didn't mean to wake you completely - I just wanted to know if you wanted to stay here or if you wanted me to take you back to your room?" he asked, taking in the image of a sleepy, messy-haired Katara with amusement.

"I… We need to talk Zuko," she said, yawning.

"I think we should wait till tomorrow morning - you look like you're about to nod back off!" he said mockingly, taking off his outer robes and shoes.

Katara shook her head.

"No, we need to talk now while Toph is asleep!" she insisted. He sighed and sat cross legged across from her on the bed, waiting to hear what she had to say. A part of him was disappointed that she only wanted to talk, but he smothered that train of thought.

"Toph is depressed. Seriously depressed or she wouldn't have talked to me about it. I'm very worried about her Zuko. She was so young during the war!" Zuko sighed.

"We were all young during the war, Katara," he reminded her.

"Yes, I know. But we have all found some sort of a path; you as Fire Prince, Sokka as future Chief, Suki as Kyoshi Leader and future Cheifess, Aang as restorer of the Air Nation and me with this whole research thing. We've had our down times but we've all created something to keep ourselves occupied, to fill the void opened up during the fighting. Toph hasn't. All her projects were short term and she's lost, left to face her demons with no distractions. We need to do something!"

Zuko considered her words. She was right. Toph was possibly the most powerful and yet the most lost one of all of them. And she was still so young!

"She can stay here for as long as she likes, just to calm down and find her way?" he suggested. And Iroh would adore having her around.

"I was… see I was thinking, what if we - uh - taught her?" Zuko's eyes widened in realisation.

"Do you think that's wise? I mean its already a risk that there are two of us practicing fire and water every day!"  _And_ , he added mentally,  _we wouldn't get to have fun on our own!_

"I've been thinking about it a lot. Yue said that not everybody is like us and that we are drawn to one another like the tides. Well, the tides are turning with everything I have discovered and everything we have learned. And suddenly Toph appears wanting some reason, some mission, some meaning to who she is. When I teach you blood bending you will be able to feel it too, but she is just as strong as either of us, you know. I've been observing and not everybody is like this; the other fire benders have sort of chi pooled in the areas typical of fire bending. That means that even if I were to redirect their chi flow, hardly any would reach the other patterns. You and I, though, we have equal amounts of chi flowing throughout - and so does Toph. I don't know why. I've been thinking about this since we spoke to Yue…" she trailed off, looking to him for his reaction.

Zuko considered it. To learn earth bending would be incredible. It would give Toph something about herself she never knew, and it would further whatever this was Yue was letting them do. On the other hand, the more people knew, the more people risked finding out. Although, Toph  _was_  as tough as they came and would defend their secret to the end.

"Don't you think it is a little dangerous teaching a blind girl to shoot fire?" he asked. It wasn't an objection exactly - just a consideration. He had already accepted Katara's proposal.

"I've been thinking about that too; the way you felt the heat in the room today - it was like I feel the moisture. If there is anything Toph is good at it is feeling things she can't see. Maybe she wouldn't have to bend fire - she could learn to understand heat like she learned to understand earth."

"It would give her a new way to see," he said, half to himself. Katara nodded. Zuko sucked in a breath, screwing up his courage. They were walking a very thin, very dangerous line as it was.

"When do we start," he asked. Katara looked relieved at his acceptance.

"Well there is no point starting tomorrow - we would have hardly slept and we need all the concentration we can get! Maybe tomorrow we can talk to her about everything. She might not  _want_  to be a part of this, after all. And then if she does we can start the day after?"

"You're right. She won't be responsive until lunch though, so we can talk her through things then?" he reasoned. Katara nodded in agreement and smiled at him.

Zuko frowned as something occurred to him. "You know its not actually that late right? We could still get enough sleep to do our routine…" he suggested. Secretly, he wanted to spend some time alone with her before Toph started interrupting everything.

"I know what the time is. I was kind of thinking that if I stayed here tonight we probably wouldn't end up getting so much sleep. But if you'd rather train, I can go now," she said lightly, turning as if to leave.

"No, no!" he cried, a little too quickly.  _Ah yes, the good old show-her-how-desperate-you-are-trick. Well done, Zuko. You sound even more pathetic then usual!_ He cleared his throat awkwardly. "I mean, who needs training right? I don't, in fact, I can function really well without any…"

He was cut off by Katara's laugh and the now-familiar sensation of her lips on his. Pulling her close and under the covers, he snuffed out the candles with a flick of his wrist and decided that his bed was far better with her in it.

* * *

Neither really remembered how they had got to their underwear, nor did they care where their discarded clothes had disappeared to. Zuko ran his hands all over her exposed skin, memorising the patterns of her body; the feel of her ribs through her skin, the arch of her back, the curves of her legs as they wrapped around him. He felt Katara doing the same, but she seemed to enjoy the feeling of his chest and stomach most of all. He rolled them so she was on top of him and she could have access as much as she liked. She seemed to enjoy it.

It was slightly unfair that his chest was exposed and hers wasn't. No, unfair was the wrong expression. It was simply  _annoying_. He wondered how far he could go before she asked him to stop. However, when she started kissing his jawline and letting her teeth graze his skin, he decided it was worth trying.

He ran his fingers all around her top wrappings, trying to find an opening, but cursed under his breath when he couldn't find it. Katara had stilled under his touch and was laughing slightly at his fumbling fingers. Gently, she took one of his hands and guided it to the middle of the front of the wrappings, letting him feel the slight bulge of the coiled cloth. He pinched it and pulled, letting the rest unravel and be pushed aside.

Zuko regretted having snuffed the candles. He wanted to see her! But there would be time for that, he hoped, at another point. The important thing now was that she was comfortable. Slowly, she lowered herself so she was once again lying on top of him, but this time instead of the rough cloth, he could feel her warm breasts pressed against him. He caressed them gently, savouring their softness on his fingertips. He decided to change their position again so she was below him and he could explore her with his tongue. Her nipples hardened under his kisses, and in a daring move he trailed his lips lower.

Suddenly, he encountered rough skin where there had been only smooth before. It took him a split second to realise these were her burns! He gently explored the whole area, ignoring her stiffening at his attention. There were lots, he realised with dismay. Many more than the ones he had half-glimpsed that day in training. They stretched across her whole width, just underneath her breasts - many were small, some were larger, but he knew they would all have burned just the same.

He carefully kissed as many burns as he could find, feeling her relaxing under his touch. It struck him as though this were destined to happen ever since she touched his scar underneath Ba Sing Se. She had offered to heal him and he was doing his best to heal her now.

She gently pull don his shoulders to signal to him to rise back up her body, and kissed him with a ferocity he had not felt from her before. He vaguely noticed that her face was slightly damp with salty tears as she caressed the burned side of his face.

They did not go any further together, not wanting to ruin the beauty of the moment with something that may turn out to be emotionally disastrous. That was more than fine though, this was far more than either had ever expected to experience.

Tired but more comfortable than either had been in a long time, they fell asleep curled in one another's arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was asked if it was appropriate to assume Katara's sexual encounters with Jet and the ease with which she seems to present herself. Whether or not in the original cartoon she and Jet have sex is not really the point; children in war-torn areas grow up very fast - as Toph points out. They are adults mentally before they become adults physically. Katara had become a mother since her own mother died, and had not come across boys her own age for a long time. She was constantly organising and planning - and Jet was the first person who took that pressure off her shoulders and made her feel like her own person. I think it was the first time in the show where she really thought about herself as separate from her brother and the people around her. That kind of realisation is something very important for her character development, so I've chosen to believe that they did sleep together, since I think she would have been carried away by the new sensations and too scared that she would never experience something of that sort ever again to say no. It also means that his betrayal hit her very hard, which it did in the show too. I do not think that Katara can be considered innocent after everything they went through, though this is a popular line for many Zutara storied. At the very least she would know how things work in sex, verbally if not physically. There is no way she could have grown up so sheltered through their journeys.
> 
> Similarly, war-children have missed out on childhood and Toph finds herself in a similar situation at a similar age. Especially for those who have been separated or disappointed by those they love, like Toph was by her parents, they seek shelter in somebody else's arms. However, they never fully trust that person, never fully let themselves go to them in case they are hurt again. That means that there is sex, but no prolonged relationship to speak of. Sticking with Toph having become depressed, she would also have sought out sex in order to feel something like a thrill or excitement but would have found nothing, which probably prompted her experimentation with girls as well as boys.


	9. Badgermole Caught in the Sun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Toph begins her lessons and Zuko learns what it means for Katara to be on her period!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the break in update schedule! I'm loving all the pms I'm getting, keep them coming! I'm incorporating all the suggestions I can. Here we see Toph's chi change, Katara's blood cycles and the promise of a full moon! I do also take into consideration those of you who have said that maybe less of the technical bending descriptions would be better since they tend to interrupt the flow, but they become kind of important later on! The next chapter will also focus on the bending aspect, but from then on there is ages before I go into it again, promised!

**Chapter 9: Badgermole Caught in the Sun**

 

Zuko decided that he rather liked waking up with Katara in his arms. They both slept late but woke up with the first rays of sunlight, stirring against the other's body. Neither spoke for a long while, simply enjoying their skin next to one another, the steady breathing and the comfort of the sheets. The grey dawn was racing towards daytime and they knew their respite wouldn't last, the chinks in the curtains allowing light to fall across their features in the stillness of the room.

As the morning sounds started up around the palace, they both knew they could hide no longer. Zuko sat up, rubbing his eyes and yawned. He looked back at Katara still lying down, the bed sheets pulled down to her hips by his movement. Zuko's breath hitched in his throat at the figure lying beside him. This was nothing like anything he had felt with the other girls he had woken up beside. In fact, he distinctly remembered being somewhat frustrated that there was somebody in his bed.

Katara yawned too and stretched, rolling over onto her side facing away from him.

"I don't want to get up," she grumbled into the pillow. Zuko chuckled.

"Hmmm. Well we could let the Fire Nation collapse today… I wouldn't mind," he teased, pulling her into a cuddle from behind. She sighed in resignation.

"Fine. I'm up! Wouldn't it be wonderful to be irresponsible for once? To just do what you want all the time instead of trying to fit it in around wars and meetings and families…" Katara sat up and tried to locate her clothes from the night before. Zuko managed to see her scars in the half-light creeping through the curtains. His stomach clenched at the sight and he ground his teeth in anger. Katara didn't notice Zuko's reaction as she scrambled around finding her things. She held up her clothes triumphantly and started pulling them on, clearly upset about the fact.

"Right. I will go back to my room and get washed and dressed. And I guess I will try to get Toph out of bed! Remember, we talk to her over lunch," she reminded him while she smoothed out some of the creases in her clothes. Zuko watched sadly as her body was covered up piece by piece. He held out his hand and beckoned her to him with pleading eyes.

When she stood in front of him, he pulled her into one last kiss, before brushing his lips against her forehead and letting her go. Her fingers lingered on his longer than they should have, but Katara straightened her back, took a deep breath and crept out of the room back to her own.

* * *

Toph had not been as stubborn as she used to be about getting up early. Katara suspected it had something to do with her general unfeelingness towards life; it would make no difference if she got up to if she stayed in bed. Katara knew depression. She had known it at various points throughout her life, and she could tell first hand how far gone Toph was. Her mocking comments were forced, her senses dulled, her expression eternally blank. The only feelings she would be experiencing were frustration and indifference - a combination that forms part of a vicious cycle of self-loathing and confusion.

Katara was glad that Zuko had agreed to teach Toph. It would not be immediate, but she hoped giving the girl some sort of a project to concentrate on and making her feel important might reignite some of the essence that was Toph. After all, when she had last lost her path it was the book in Ka' Bei and fire that sent her on her way once more. Zuko had been second guessing his position due to his own boredom and loneliness, and water brought him back to beauty. Perhaps Toph would be able to latch on to both water and fire to pull herself through back to stable rock.

Or at least, Katara hoped.

* * *

Lunch came and Zuko entered Toph's chambers where they were due to eat right on time. He was surprised at how diligently he had worked that morning, but he figured that the satisfaction of the previous night coupled with his excitement for the lunch time conversation must have given him enough motivation to finish on time.

"Right, what is this thing you two want to talk to me about?" started Toph, being the first to take a bowl of rice.

"Erm. I don't really know how to start… I guess the back story?" Katara wondered aloud, looking at Zuko for encouragement. He nodded, indicating that she should continue.

"Right. The back story - except I will shorten it, the details aren't important. When I was travelling I learned blood bending. Hama taught me but I was far more powerful than her and ended up teaching myself. I used it for healing - which is actually far more effective than water," Katara paused to sip some tea as Toph raised her eyebrows in appreciation.

"I stumbled across an old Fire Temple on Ka'Bei island in the Fire Nation. I stayed there a long time reading all their old records in search for any mention of blood bending. Eventually I found a copy of a very ancient text belonging to a population that inhabited the world at least during the times of the lion-turtle cities, if not before them. It took a while to translate it, but when I did I found many things about bending in general - as well as blood bending," Katara took a deep breath, feeling an odd sensation prickling over her body, as if she were about to jump off a very high cliff.

"Blood and chi are linked. By controlling blood you can also control chi - or more accurately chi flow. Every type of bending requires a different - eh - route of chi flow… but I can change this so that it encompasses more than one type of bending." Katara paused to let that sink in. Toph was sitting stock still, her rice forgotten in her lap.

"You can't do this with everybody, though. Yue came to us and told us that -"

"Wait," interrupted Toph, holding up her hand, " _Yue_  spoke to you?!" Katara and Zuko glanced at each other.

"Yes, she did. She told us that not everybody can have their chi flow - eh - altered, and those who can, have some connection to her. Since then I've been observing people's chi flows. Many people have sort of pools of chi in key areas connected with their bending style - which means that any redirecting would do nothing. Others though, have chi flowing in equal amounts all throughout the body and you can shift it so to bend more than one element. Zuko and I are two of those people. You are too." She let her words hang in the air, both her and Zuko waiting calmly for any sort of reaction.

Toph drank some tea. She placed her cup back on the table. She then picked it back up and drank some more. She placed it on the table again. She opened her mouth to speak twice before closing it again. Finally she spoke.

"So. Can you both bend fire and water?" she asked.

"Yes," replied Zuko simply.

"Can you bend earth?"

"No."

"So, since there is something weird about the three of us, you two want me to teach you to earth bend in exchange for fire and water?" she stated quietly.

"Er… well, yes. There is another thing though, when Yue spoke to us, she said that the world was out of balance and that her children (that would be people like us) would rise to set it in balance again. I don't know what that means exactly, but she was happy I was learning water bending. But why the world should be out of balance now that we have the Avatar I'm not sure," explained Zuko.

Toph pursed her lips in thought.

"Since Aang has returned he has ended the war, but then he disappeared to recreate his Air Nation. He has ignored the other three nations that are all in some sort of internal conflict. Bringing the elements together is distant from everybody's minds - if anything he has separated them more by disappearing with the air nation. Now that there is no war, not even the earth kingdom and water tribes have a common goal," said Toph to both Katara's and Zuko's surprise. When had the little, rude, master earth bender become so wise? Then again, she had always been the most perceptive of all of them.

"So maybe we are meant to fill in the gaps left by Aang?" reasoned Zuko. Katara rolled her eyes.

"You and your destiny Zuko! Look, I have no doubt now that Yue had something to do with all of this, but there is still so much we do not know. She did say though that people… people like us are drawn to one another and that we would find them among our closest friends," started Katara in her old authoritarian voice.

"And Toph is one of our closest friends  _and_  has chi flowing throughout her body… so you  _could_ say that it was our destiny after all," teased Zuko with a small smile. He still found it incredible that he could find humour in her teasing. Rewind the clock a few years and when anybody questioned his destiny he would attempt to snap their necks.

Katara huffed in defeat.

"Alright, alright, quit with the flirting, its sickening," interrupted Toph, snapping out of her stupor. "I'm in. I'll teach you and you teach me and we do whatever it is we're  _destined_  to do," Katara squealed in delight but was silenced by Toph's hand held up to stop her. "I hope you know, though, that it isn't going to be easy. I'm blind. I can only teach you the way I learned, and I don't think I can learn the way you did easily, if at all. Have you thought about how to get around that?"

"Meditation," said Zuko and Katara simultaneously.

* * *

"Really guys!" groaned a still very sleepy Toph when Zuko and Katara kicked her out of bed just before dawn the next morning.

"It is what it is, Toph," chuckled Zuko, leading them down to the gardens and their usual meditation spot. All three sat on the grass, facing east.

"What am I searching for exactly?" asked Toph, resigned to her early rising.

"When I change your chi flow, you will have a heightened connection with the sun. The light won't mean much to you but the heat will - the sun gives heat and life to all living things and you should be able to feel it seeping through as the sun rises. If you want to you can meditate on something familiar to you - the earth or the rocks or the marble of the palace, and try to feel how they change with the sun. It may be difficult but stick with it! Eventually you should feel a… a sort of power pooling in your stomach. But that may not happen yet. Are you ready?" explained Katara, calming herself in preparation of letting somebody else into her secret.

"Lets do it!" cried Toph, punching the air with a mocking enthusiasm.

Katara took Toph's hand and closed her eyes, willing herself to follow Toph's blood ways. She let herself drift along with the flow of chi, appreciating how the orbit was different to her own. When she reached the area around the torso, where the fire bending chi orbit focussed, she pushed gently so that Toph's flow would expand to encompass it too. She sighed in satisfaction. She would wait to do water when Toph started appreciating fire - otherwise it might confuse her.

"Dawn is starting," observed Zuko, making himself comfortable and focussing his breathing. Zuko and Katara lost themselves with practiced ease into the heat waves of the garden, loving how they became more and more enhanced by the rising of the sun.

Toph, however, felt nothing. Contrary to many people's belief about her, she was really very good at meditation. Sure, her brash personality and energetic character may seem opposed to the usually quiet and self-reflective stereotype, but it was only through meditation that she learned earth bending at all. She'd had to follow and focus on the badger moles, she had to learn to feel to the minutest degree everything that happened within the Earth. It hadn't been easy.

But this? This she wasn't getting anywhere with! She bit down her frustration and decided to take Katara's advice and meditate on rocks instead. She focussed a rock right in front of her, by the pond. She felt every vein, every crack than ran through it. She felt the quiet vibrations of the bugs that lived beneath it and a slight pressure from above - a frog maybe? She became the rock.

She decided that she needed to think of the changes that were happening. Of the exact position of the rock, of the pressures coming to the rock from around it. Toph lost track of all space and time apart from the rock. She noticed that it was becoming bigger. Not by very much, hardly anything, but it was growing. That was strange! What could it be? She explored the surface of the rock and felt that it was different to the inside. Not just in texture, but in activity. It was excited? Do rocks get excited?

She realised this much be heat! She moved in and out of the rock again; yes, the inside was cold, it felt solid, smooth, devoid of energy. The outside was different. It was vibrant, alive almost. Instinctively she followed the strange force that brought the rock alive and flowed with it throughout the garden. She realised that there were intense pockets of energy scurrying around, both near and far from the earth. The ones further away must be birds; the others animals. There were other objects that were less hot, but still warmer than rocks. These were very still and strong - she realised trees! Her excitement seemed to grow with time as more and more energy was being poured into her surroundings, more and more life was buzzing.

Then suddenly, when she felt actual, physical, tangible warmth hit her face, an energy seemed to explode within her. Her stomach felt giddy and she felt like recoiling from the sheer power she felt.

Toph opened her sightless eyes and broke her meditation position to curl up slightly and catch her breath. So this is what the sun felt like.

She realised that Katara and Zuko were moving as well.

"You found the sun," stated Zuko. It wasn't a question. Toph wondered what her face betrayed in that moment.

"Its … its pretty strong isn't it?" she asked.

"Yes. It is energy. Katara is still getting used to it," said Zuko, a smile in his voice. Toph imagined him being affectionate to Katara. It was disgusting.

"Well? Are you going to teach me or are we going to sit here like lame turtle-ducks all day?" quipped Toph sharply. They could be gooey if they wanted to be - as long as it was not around her. She discarded her initial plan of being very annoying and not letting them have any time together… she would most definitely be letting them have a lot of time together so they could get it all out of their damned system and be at one another's throats as they should be.

 _Or maybe I'm just jealous,_ she thought to herself.  _Yeah, probably. But that doesn't change the fact that they are making me feel sick!_

* * *

Both Zuko and Katara expected Toph to be hesitant at best when it came to fire bending, given the fact that she couldn't see the flames and the memory of Zuko burning her feet. However, they once again had underestimated the girl; she was used to handling things she couldn't see. For a while all she did was play with heat - if she was going to learn this, she had to feel the heat flows like she felt the ground vibrations.

"Right, tell me when I make fire," she said finally. Katara was the only one left in the indoor arena - Zuko had had to see to some disgruntled guards.

"Alright, go ahead."

Toph took up the stance they had taught her and focussed her breathing. Up till this point she had pushed about heat, removing it from one side of the room and focusing it on another. Now she wanted to make it hotter until she achieved fire. But you need eyes to judge that!

She went through the punching move Zuko had demonstrated and felt heat moving away from her. She tried again. This time, it was hotter. Again, and hotter still. As she gradually increased the amount of energy she was putting into her punches, she noticed two things. First, like Katara, she found the same giddy, powerful sensation in her stomach that she had felt that morning with the sun. Secondly, she realised that the moment before she was punching, the heat surrounding her would rush to her, through her, and then out in a condensed form from her knuckles.

"Toph! You did it!" squealed Katara, clapping her hands. Toph repeated the same move to get used to the sensation of creating fire. Now that she knew how much power to put into it, she could feel the difference. This was more like an explosion rather than a push.

"Ok, now I understand why fire bending is so dangerous," she muttered, half to herself as she relaxed her stance.

"Because it burns?" asked Katara, regarding the girl in front of her.

"Well, yes. But also because its like an explosion; see if I scatter bits of rock everywhere, I have no control over where each little one goes. Thats kind of the same thing here - the heat of the fire is scattering as well as going where I want it to. So accidents are bound to happen…" she trailed off, thinking of Zuko when he burned her feet at his camp. He was probably just trying to defend himself, sending out a warning shot that a person with full eyesight would see… but of course she was blind. And at the time would not have known what was heading towards her.

She would make sure to talk to him about it later.

* * *

The three friends decided to have dinner in the sitting room. This seemed to be one of Toph's favourite places in the palace - she could lounge around on the cushions and there was all the tea anybody could ask for!

Zuko looked distracted though. Katara could see the worry creasing between his eyebrows, crinkling the edge of the scar in an odd way. Whenever she or Toph weren't directly addressing him, his eyes would wonder away and flick back and forth as if he was trying to make a decision. Katara frowned. She would have to ask him about it later.

At this moment they were going through the steps Toph had made in her lesson that day. She explained about the heat being drawn the the person bending.

"So I'm guessing that the highest security prisons in the Fire Nation are really really cold?" she asked. Zuko blinked.

"Yes. Yes they are. You can't bend when you are too cold…"

"Right, because you are drawing heat in and compressing it and shooting it out!" Toph grinned at herself.

"So… its sort of like water in the sense that it is always there," reasoned Katara. Zuko considered this.

"Yes. I guess it is! What I don't understand, though, is how that works with lightening? Uncle taught me how to redirect lightening - and that is like heat and water in the sense that you let it flow in and then out again. But how is it that we create it?" mused Zuko. Katara pursed her lips in thought.

"I don't know. But it has to be something to do with moving heat since it burns… right?" she considered.

"I guess we play around with it tomorrow? But not in the indoor arena," started Zuko.

"You know, Sparky, the floor of your arena is stone," pointed out Toph.

"And?"

"Well, if you shoot lightening at the metal walls it won't touch us. Lightening likes metal," she stated as if it were obvious. Katara and Zuko looked skeptical. Toph could feel their hesitation and rolled her eyes.

"Look, where I come from we have really really tall buildings, right? So what happens when there is a storm? The lightening hits the tall buildings, and they either crumble of burn or a bit of both. So, in order to protect said tall buildings we stick metal rods on the top that run all the way into the ground. That way the  _building_  is not hit, but the  _metal_  is. The metal takes it to the ground," explained Toph, in her best condescending voice.

"We could try," concluded Katara.

"So," started Toph again, arousing them from their thoughts on lightening, "will I be water bending tomorrow Sifu Sweetness?"

"No. We wait for the full moon to start your water lessons - which is next week. Tomorrow we earth bend," stated Katara simply. She was pleased nobody argued with her. She also wanted to teach Zuko blood bending under the full moon. He had picked up water as quickly as she had picked up fire - she thought because they had both mastered their own elements and watched one another bending for years. Also, combining the bending styles made the transition very simple. He might not be able to handle blood yet, but they could try.

* * *

Katara felt funny after dinner. She was more tired than usual and could feel the dark bags under her eyes eating into her skin. Her hair felt greasy even though she had already washed it that day, and she was unnaturally annoyed at Zuko for not telling her what was bothering him. When she started feeling pain in her lower abdomen, she knew for sure - it was  _that_  time of the month. She groaned to herself and found the cloths she used to soak up the blood.

Of course! When she had arrived she had just finished… and then there was a full moon. The full moon always brought her relief from her cycles, and a calm after the storm of a very frustrating week.

She knew that if she didn't get herself some painkilling tea immediately, she would get no sleep at all that night. Having made sure she looked acceptable, she padded down to the kitchens to ask for the right kind of tea. They handed it to her without question, and watched her leave with sympathetic looks.

By the time the tea had brewed, she was already incapable of standing up straight. The cramps had her almost doubled over. She controlled her breathing as Yugoda had taught her to do, and kept one hand over her cramping muscles coated in water to ease the pain. Katara hated this time of the month. She could only relax muscles and heal wounds, redirect blood and move liquids - but she could not eliminate pain. Relaxing the muscles seemed to help somewhat, but never enough. It was as if her own body and her own element were turning against her. And she couldn't do anything about it! Once she had tried to blood bend all the blood out in one go so it would be over quickly, but soon found out that it was not as simple as a sack of blood that needed to come out. She learned from the healing scrolls in the Northern Water Tribe that it is the lining of the womb that is shed - blood is merely a by product. So trying to take out blood only left her weaker than before, and she kept bleeding where the lining was freshly separating itself from her.

She did not understand why she had to go through all of this, nor why some women hardly felt it at all while she was reduced to a pale, shivering corpse on her first day, and an aching, stroppy wreck the rest of the week.

The tea had started to take effect. She could feel her body's priorities swap from dealing with pain to dealing with tiredness. But she knew, from experience, that if she didn't finish all the tea she would be up in a few hours reduced to the same state. To sleep the whole night she needed the whole teapot.

There was a timid knock at the door, and a hesitant voice calling her name.

"Zuko?" she asked. "Zuko, come in!"

Zuko walked into the room, still looking very unsure about himself. He was in his night trousers, shirtless and shoeless as if he were about to go to bed. He bit his lip as he looked at Katara, and scratched the back of his neck nervously.

"Katara? Have I… have I done something?" Katara was confused. He thought she was mad at him? Well she was irritated, but she was irritated at the world in general, not just Zuko.

"What are you talking about?" Zuko looked away awkwardly again. "Oh for Agni's sake Zuko, spit it out!" she said a little too sharply. Zuko looked slightly frightened.

"Well you usually come and sleep in my bed… and well you didn't turn up so I… have I made you mad? Because if I have I'm sorry and I'm sure I didn't mean it…" he was looking at her with pleading eyes, shifting his weight from one foot to another.

Katara laughed.  _Oh he is_ so _awkward!_  She thought. She stopped laughing as the movement triggered another spasm and she forced more tea down.

"No, Zuko. It is the wrong time of the month," she said, still smiling. However Zuko only looked confused. Katara sighed. "I'm riding the red tide, getting acquainted with death, trapped in the bloody torture chamber," she said listing off the most entertaining names for it.

Zuko's eyes widened in realisation, but his shoulders relaxed and he breathed out a sigh of relief.

"Oh! I thought you were angry at me!" he exclaimed, approaching her with a smile. "Are you feeling alright? Can I do something?" he asked worriedly, taking in the darkness under her eyes and her face drawn in pain.

Katara held up her tea cup.

"Painkilling tea. There isn't really much more to do," she explained. He sat down next to her on the bed and kissed her forehead affectionately.

How was Zuko - the Zuko who had knocked her out in the North - how was he so gentle and caring? Katara found herself wondering more and more if this was a side to him that was always present but buried, or if it was something he developed when he was surrounded by people who cared about him. Right now, she didn't care. She was so moved by his affection that she felt tears spring to her eyes.

Somewhere in the back of her mind there was a small panicked voice telling her that she should be scared of such an attachment, that she was better off alone. But she suffocated it and leant on his shoulder, brushing away her tears.

"Katara? What's happening? Are you still in pain?" asked a panicked Zuko, noticing the tears. He forced her to look at him in the face. She shook her head.

"No, I'm just happy!" she croaked, reaching for some more tea.

"Generally speaking, you don't tend to cry when you are happy," started Zuko uncertainly.

"You don't understand. I'm happy you're here and not hiding from me," she explained with a logic that escaped him completely.

"Um. Why would I be hiding from you? You're not making much sense right now," he said, teasing her gently. She shrugged. She didn't care if he understood or not.

"Do - uh - do you want me to stay here tonight? Uncle always told me that it is better if women stay warm when they are bleeding because it hurts less…" Katara looked at him to see if he was in earnest, but she didn't detect any reservedness behind his words - on the contrary, there seemed to be a hope in his eyes.

Katara nodded.

"I'd like that."


	10. Seeing Without Eyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katara, Zuko and Toph start seeing through one another's eyes. Or in Toph's case, feeling through one another's feet!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was hard to write because the next one is super exciting, so this is more of a transitory chapter. Hopefully I've built on the advice you guys have given me (keep it coming)... but still, I'm not too happy with it. The next update will be quick though! Promise!

**Chapter 10 – Seeing without Eyes**

 

Zuko jolted awake from a disturbing dream just before dawn, the last dregs of which were quickly dissipating into the lightening room. He replayed the scene from last night and considered how to approach the new day. Since they were earth bending he didn’t think he should wake Katara for meditation. Besides, Toph being in charge meant there was no chance of starting early.

However, as the grey light of early dawn infiltrated the room, Zuko started to worry. Katara had hardly moved the whole night. He had to place a hand on her stomach just to feel her breathing, otherwise she may as well have been dead. She must have been in a very deep sleep and he was torn as to whether to wake her or not. Finally he decided that she would probably be mad if he didn’t give her the choice - she was not one to look sympathetically at anybody who made decisions for her.

He kissed her gently on the cheek and called her name, drawing her out of her comatose sleep. Katara’s eyes opened slowly - differently to her usual confused fluttering. This was weary, tired, and her gaze was still distant.

“Hey, its dawn, and we’re meant to earth bend today,” he explained softly. Katara’s eyes closed with the same slow, deliberate movement she had used before. They stayed closed a few seconds before opening again to consider him. She reached up a hand and caressed his cheek, before letting it drop back onto the sheets.

“I’m… not… leaving… this… bed,” she breathed. Zuko nodded. He didn’t think he should argue with her - she seemed to be exhausted. There was only one problem though…

“Then we’ll leave Toph to sleep - I bet she will be happy,” he said, trying to conceal his disappointment. He had been looking forward to learning earth bending - he loved the strength it gave those who wielded it. Katara closed her eyes.

“You should learn,” she said from somewhere very distant.

“You’re the only one who can blood bend,” he reminded her. She sighed and reached for his hand.

From her fuzzy state she didn’t need to try to block out anything; it was already gone. She found his blood easily and followed a very bright chi flow in the darkness of her incomprehensibility. Katara had studied Toph’s chi flow the day before, memorising the points where it differed from hers. She wasn’t surprised to find earth bending focussed in the legs and feet. It made sense. In the back of her mind it reminded her of something, but she couldn’t quite place it.

When she had altered Zuko’s chi, she did her own.

“There, now we’re both earth benders,” she said. She hadn’t moved or opened her eyes - Zuko had thought she had fallen asleep again. He kissed her again and quietly left to wake an undoubtedly grumpy Toph.

 

* * *

 

 

The sun rose just before six o’clock. Nothing official happened before nine o’clock, which meant that meditation, training, washing and eating took place in those three hours. Katara woke from her stupor at about eight, and decided to find her friends. She didn’t bother hiding the black under her eyes, and she tied her hair up so it wouldn’t look dirty. Going into her bathroom, she sighed in relief at her ability to blood bend. For all of the uses blood bending had, the most mundane was also the most useful. No longer did she have to soak her cycle cloths in boiling water for hours; she could soak them for five minutes or so and bend the blood off. It was amazing. If she ever lost the ability to blood bend this would probably be one of her main regrets.

Having washed herself and thrown on some clothes, Katara hurried to the indoor arena so see if Toph and Zuko were still in there. She opened the door quietly and slipped in, almost laughing at what she saw; Toph had riddled the stone floor with holes and dips, sharp spikes, inclines, and steps of all kinds. Zuko stood, looking somewhat weary, blindfolded in the middle of the maze.

“Hey Katara,” called Toph from the other side of the arena.

“What? Katara’s here?” asked Zuko, jerking his head about and trying to work out where the damned door was.

“What is wrong with you Zuko!” cried Toph, “You are a _fire bender_ , that means you can _feel heat_! You should be able to sense her in the room with your own element!” She threw up her hands in frustration.

“Yeah well I’m too damned concentrated on trying to sense the fucking death traps you’ve set out for me!” he cried back, a glimmer of his old-Zuko anger in his voice. However, he didn’t remove the blind fold. Toph growled.

“I do not understand _why_ it is so hard to teach earth bending! With Aang what he needed was a forceful push, and I think you need the same. We are going to duel,” she said definitively.

“Duel!” exclaimed Katara. “Isn’t it a bit early for that?” She did not like the idea of a blind Zuko going up against Toph. With his eyesight they may have been equally matched, but he was at a distinct disadvantage here.

“Stay out of this Sugar Queen. This is between me and Sparky. Actually, you can play doctor when he gets his butt kicked. Right, Sparky, you can use any element you like - I will only use earth bending. But we are both blind. And you better start paying attention to the earth pretty soon because it will, quite literally, slap you in the face if you don’t. Ready?”

“Toph I think this is a really bad idea,” started Katara pleadingly. However, Zuko interrupted her.

“Please Katara! If this is what it takes I’ll do it. But you shouldn’t get hurt - wait outside till this is over.”

“Absolutely not,” she said forcefully, crossing her arms and not a little irritated that he was trying to tell her what to do, “I can defend myself, Fire Prince Zuko, and if I have to beat your arse again to prove it, believe me, I will!” And with that she leaned against the door, staring at the back of Zuko’s head angrily.

He gulped. An angry Katara was far worse than a playful Toph. He would have to deal with that later.

“Wahey! Sweetness is getting Spicy!” laughed Toph. _This is more like it,_ she thought to herself.

“Don’t you dare make light of this Toph - I’m furious with you for doing this. You two are going to seriously hurt each other and _I’m_ the one who is going to have to pick up the fucking pieces as usual!” she snarled, switching her cold stare from one blind person to another.

“Shesh! Calm down Spicy! Hey… Spicy and Sparky… I like it… although Sweetness and Sparky is like sweetness and light which is a lovely saying. Except I don’t know what light is,” mused Toph, completely unperturbed by Katara’s outburst. She was more than used to it, but sensed that it had put Zuko on edge… maybe she should go easy on him after all. “Well, lets get to it!” she announced, stomping her foot on the ground and changing the landscape to something completely unfamiliar. Zuko didn’t know it but it was actually easier to navigate than the previous one.

Zuko froze at the sound of grinding rock.

“You fucking changed everything again didn’t you?” he growled.

“Yup!” replied Toph lightly.

He spun around in the direction of her voice and shot a fireball at her. However, he heard the usual creaking of the expanding metal as it collided with the wall.

“Yeah, how are you supposed to get me if you don’t know in which direction I’m going? You are aiming for the past Sparky, get with it!” she instructed, leaping around and changing direction. Zuko tried to aim a few more fireballs but without success. “Not even close!” mocked Toph from yet another position.

Zuko could feel his frustration growing into anger. Anger at himself, at his damned inability to pick this up. He felt like a scolded child again, the worst one at fire bending, with his sister showing off to his father and grandfather moves that he still hadn’t mastered. The familiar rage that he had harboured for three long years on his ship returned full force, contorting his body into well rehearsed moves. He growled through his teeth as he drew on as much power as he could and shot a sheet of fire, spinning as he did so, in order to make it reach every corner of the room.

He was left panting from his sudden outburst. After a few deep breaths things started clearing in his mind as he realised what he had done.

“Katara? Toph? Are you ok? I’m so sorry…” he reached behind his head to undo the blindfold and rush to the aid of his friends. He was resisting breaking down into sobs of self loathing.

“Don’t you dare Sparky!” called Toph from a long way away, “This isn’t over!”

“We’re fine Zuko,” said Katara from somewhere closer to his side of the arena, a softness in her voice that indicated that she at least partially understood what had prompted his rash gesture.

Zuko suddenly felt something hit him square in the forehead. Then something else. They were hard. Stones! Toph was throwing stones at him - he had just whipped out enough fire to destroy a palace and she retaliated by throwing stones. It almost made him laugh.

Because she defended herself from his attack and he was incapable of defending himself from hers.

Right. He needed to find cover. Getting low to the ground, he moved along with his hands spread wide until he found a large rock jutting out. He moved so that it was between him and the rock-throwing Toph. It wouldn’t take long for her to adjust her position to come at him again, but she had been the other side of the arena, so she would have to move quite a bit. At the very least it bought him some time.

A memory presented itself to him; a memory of himself as the blue spirit, living in the shadows and being impossibly quiet - breaking into the highest security prisons and freeing the highest security prisoners. Sneaking around wasn’t going to fool Toph, and there was no wood to dampen his steps. He silently cursed himself for not having brought water in this morning - at the very least it might create some confusion!

But along with these memories came the less pleasant ones; being locked in cupboards, waiting in vents, sneaking through barracks, finding his way down the tunnels of Lake Laogai. In none of those situations did he have any light. He had done it by not _searching_ for light - by instead focussing on what he did know and translating that into images. He remembered sitting very still, hardly even breathing, and listening with all his might to what was happening around him.

Marching boots: soldiers. The paces even: bored. Two, in practiced time: regular partners. No hesitations: knew the land to perfection - they were lookouts on duty.

Now he had more than his ears, though. He had heat. He had water. He had earth.

He relaxed and opened his mind to the arena. There. He could feel Toph not too far from him. She wasn’t moving. So she must have been waiting for him to emerge.

Katara stood somewhere behind him. She was much warmer than Toph.

This didn’t help though. As soon as Toph picks up a rock, and the rock leaves her hand, he would have no idea where it was. He might hope that the contact with her skin would make it slightly warmer than the surroundings, but hat was a vain hope. Besides, was she even picking them up? Wouldn’t she just bend them towards him?

He needed to go deeper than heat and water. He needed to focus on where he was in relation to the room. He needed to feel, through his skin, what was going on. _Everything is connected_ he told himself. _I am on the earth, I am touching it, I am part of it._ He repeated this mantra in his head over and over as he ran his fingers and toes along the surroundings, paying attention to every nook and cranny he passed over. There was no movement in the room, nor was there any noise; it seemed the girls had decided to leave him to his own explorations.

He felt a dip under his feet as he inched forward. A dip meant a rise though. Where was the rise?

There. The rise was very close - the dip was not wide. But the rise seemed to be higher than where he was standing. That would mean another dip perhaps. It would be annoying to have to climb it though. But moving to the right should give him some space. Instinctively, with the speed yet caution of the blue spirit, he headed towards the easier path. There was something blocking his way though and he ducked just in time, feeling an overhang graze the top of his head. Toph would be standing to the left - stationary - a heartbeat - a more intense vibration. Carefully positioning himself, he shot a simple fireball directly at the direction of the more intense vibrations. The vibrations faded for a split second - she had stepped out of the way - and he felt a presence moving closer - too fast to be Toph - no Toph had not moved from her spot.

Something small and hard hit him on the chest. Oh. Another rock. _So that’s what a rock feels like_ he thought to himself, too fascinated to be irritated.

“Nice one Sparky, you are finally _feeling_. Now quit with the fire, do it with rock,” instructed Toph.

“Hmmm thanks for the details Sifu,” grumbled Zuko, momentarily distracted from his study of the ground.

“You’ll work it out,” she replied. Zuko imagined a smirk playing on her lips underneath her black bangs.

He returned to the state he had been in while observing the stone beneath his feet. Right. _Stone MOVE_ he mentally shouted. Unsurprisingly, nothing happened. He returned to the overhang and, standing in front of it, he placed one hand on the lip, concentrating on how the stone was shaped - not so much on the surface, but underneath it. There he exerted a force, and to his immense pleasure it shifted. Not much, just an inch. But he could do it again - and with more power. The overhang lifted so that he could pass under it without ducking.

Now he needed a stone to throw. He reached up and touched the overhang once more. Instead of pushing inside, he pulled, and a part came away easily in his hand.

Now where was Toph? Ah! There. He threw the stone but it fell short - he felt it hit the ground a few metres in front of her. He took another part of the overhang, and this time, he pushed it from inside. Not enough to separate it, but enough to control its direction. There!

The vibrations coming from Toph changed and the stone stopped. Ah. She must have lifted her hand and caught it.

“I like it Sparky! But I’m afraid we are going to have to continue this another time - your advisors are hesitating outside the arena - I think you might be late for something…” said Toph.

Zuko gasped and tore off the blindfold, ignoring the tears that sprang to his eyes from the suddenly very intense light. He ran to the door and ripped it open.

“What time is it?” he asked urgently to the advisors who stood nervously outside.

“Ten o’clock, my prince,” answered one of them.

“Shit. Prepare the meeting room, I will be there shortly,” he ordered, watching them scurry away towards the palace. Zuko turned to the two girls in the room.

He took in the terrain Toph had created. It had seemed so much more threatening without his eyes - in the daylight he could have manoeuvred it with hardly a thought! Toph had created a seat of stone and was picking at her feet, just as she used to when she was younger. Katara had also seated herself on a boulder, her legs dangling down. She seemed much calmer than before.

“We’ve only got half an hour to prepare but I reckon we can do it,” she said serenely. Zuko regarded her gratefully. He was worried she wouldn’t be there at the meeting today - but she knew so much about what was going on that she would grasp anything he happened to miss. And besides, her insights into how the normal people lived were exactly what he needed. The memories of his life as a refugee in the lower rings of Ba Sing Se were forever fresh in his mind.

Katara slid off her boulder.

“What, Sugar Queen is wussing out of her lesson?” mocked Toph, seemingly unbothered by their disappearance.

“Sorry Toph, if you like I can come back this afternoon after lunch? I had an idea I would like to try with you,” she said, still the image of composure. Toph yawned.

“Yeah alright. I’m going to go and take a mid-morning nap now. Wake me when you want to learn?” the tone in her voice was almost too hopeful, betraying how much she needed this distraction - this reminder that she could be in control of _something_. Katara smiled.

“Of course,” she promised, before taking Zuko’s hand and heading back to the palace with him.

 

* * *

 

 

The meeting had been surprisingly simple. People seemed to be on more or less the same page - which was an event in itself. Zuko had some letters to write, but Katara hurried to wake Toph and they headed to the arena. She was determined not to be put through the same thing as Zuko - that had taken hours, and to be honest, she did not have the patience to deal with it today. She had another idea though.

“What’s this plan of yours then?” asked Toph once the door had clanged shut definitively.

“Well you know how you play with metal? Its kind of like how I water bend - as in it is almost liquid - or it behaves like a liquid. So I wanted to try that,” she explained confidently.

“You want to _start_ with metal?” asked Toph incredulously.

“Well, yes. It might not work, but if it did I think it would be easier for me to attack it that way around,” explained Katara, suddenly not so sure of herself. Toph raised an eyebrow and flicked the hair out of her face with a familiar jerk of the head.

“We might as well try,” conceded Toph. She wouldn’t admit it, but angry Katara was not something she wanted to run into twice in the course of a day. She reached out and summoned a chuck of metal from high up on one of the walls, bringing it down between her hands. She couldn’t resist playing with it for just a bit, letting it circle her hands and splay out in different patterns.

“I don’t really know how to teach you this because I learned it _from_ earth bending. And with that you need to find the earth within the metal. It is there, it just feels slightly different, you know?”

“Like blood feels to a water bender,” compared Katara.

“I guess,” reasoned Toph, “if you can start to place it in space first you would get a feel for what it is?” She was guessing. She actually had no idea how to approach this. She solidified the metal again and handed it to Katara, who sat on the ground holding it between her hands contemplatively.

 _Treat it like ice,_ she thought.

“I think,” she spoke out loud, “that solid metal is kind of like ice, liquid metal like water. I don’t know what vapour would be… but anyway, so if this _is_ like ice, then what I would need to do is sort of… break it apart from the inside, but all over at the same time. Does that sound right to you?” she asked Toph.

“Yeah, sort of. But you need to keep the whole together so it doesn’t splatter… the edges kind of feel different.” Toph sat down opposite Katara and waited. Katara didn’t move. She didn’t move for a long time.

Toph focussed on sensing the metal in her hands, and was surprised at how easily she fell _into_ it. She could feel how there was a growing pressure inside, a tentative movement. But it was going in the wrong direction - or rather it was going in all directions at once. That is not how metal is structured, she registered, there needed to be more of a sliding and jostling to it. She murmured this instruction to Katara, careful not to break the concentration of either.

Slowly but surely, she felt Katara’s hold on the metal increase and the right action take place. The metal was more malleable, and then eventually liquid. She imagined Katara would be smiling.

“Fuck. Yes,” breathed Katara, playing with the liquid metal. She was right. She could treat it like water in a way, although it was less similar than she had expected.

Toph grinned.

“Nice one sugar-cake. Now can we get on with real Earth Bending?” quipped Toph, not quite managing to hide her awe for what Katara had just achieved. She wondered if she would be able to use the same technique in reverse when Katara kept up her side of the bargain.

 

* * *

 

 

A couple of days had passed and Katara had managed some earth bending - Zuko some metal bending. Both realised that the more they learned about any element made picking up the next one ever easier. So many things were similar that sometimes in the depth of their meditations they stated fusing the boundaries.

Toph liked fire too - she used it to sense what she could not feel through her feet. And carefully, with much caution, she learned to manipulate it. Since it was not solid it took many hours of concentration to keep hold of the shapes she created - they were not bounded by everything, but she saw it as _her_ job to bind it to a shape.

When it came to her turn to learn water, she could hardly wait. Katara had also decided that she would attempt to teach Zuko blood bending at the same time; full moons only came around once a month and she wasn’t sure what the future would hold.

The three met by the little lake, much to the annoyance of the turtle ducks, just before sunset. Katara talked Toph through everything she had done with Zuko, and decided it would be a good idea if she kept her feet in the water. Although Toph had eventually learned to swim, she still feared the power of water, and so keeping the most sensitive part of her body connected with it might help bridge that distrust.

Katara and Zuko left her in meditation as the sun set, knowing that, at this point, it was highly unlikely she wouldn’t experience the surge of power that came with the moon. It seemed strange yet oddly logical that they were all picking up one another’s elements so quickly.

“Blood,” started Katara, “feels slightly different to water. It is harder to move, since it pulls everything else that is in the blood with it. It is heavy in that sense. And besides, there is something blocking your direct access to it. The way I like to look at it is as a reaching past a barrier rather than a _going inside_.”

Zuko looked around, distracted from her words by a thought that had just occurred to him. He was feeling uneasy.

“Katara, don’t you have some animal I can practice on?”

Katara stared at him hard.

“No. Blood bending takes away the freedom of whatever you are practicing on. Therefore you will _only_ blood bend practice on willing subjects.”

Zuko sucked in a breath. He had a really bad feeling this might happen.

“Katara there is no way I am blood bending on you!” he seethed.

“Yes, you are,” she replied calmly.

“I won’t learn then,” he matched, folding his arms across his chest in defiance.

“Yes, you will. What happens if I go crazy with all this power? What happens if I need to be stopped and Aang can’t do it? What happens if people find out about this and torture me until I make them as powerful as we are?” Katara had tears in her eyes but she refused to let them fall. This was why she had to teach him. How could she trust herself with something so destructive without any way out. “You need to learn Zuko, you need to be able to control me and my chi like I can control you and yours. That way you can take away from me what might one day harm so many people…”

Zuko’s arms had fallen to his sides as her arguments computed in his mind. Out of all of them, she was the only one who could not be stopped. If he or Toph abused their power, Katara would be there to take it away. Aang had still not managed to return to the Avatar state since they had split up two years earlier and so would be incapable of doing so. But if she lost her mind, if she was used and tortured, nobody would be able to help her.

“Katara, don’t think like that,” he whispered unconvincingly. He pulled her into his arms, well aware that she was right. He was both moved by her trust in him and terrified of misusing it. An image of his father flashed in his head. What atrocities could he have achieved if he had known how to blood bend? Zuko didn’t want to imagine.

“Look, Zuko, this is important. I know you are as strong as I am, and you feel the water in the same way I do. Blood is not hard, its just as shift in how you see the element - like lightening is for you and metal is for Toph…” she pushed him away gently and collected herself before starting her instruction.

 

* * *

 

 

 

Zuko was used to observing the mass of water that was Katara. But now he needed to concentrate on overcoming the resistance provided by her skin and moving behind it. He could understand how somebody who struggled with water would find this near impossible, but by this point shifting his perspective was becoming a way of life. The constant re-analysis was opening his eyes - metaphorically - to a way of _feeling_  that was completely foreign to him.

It took a while, but the power of the moon was coursing through his body, and all the water in the world seemed to be at his fingertips. He reached forward with his hands and his mind, and concentrated on what was behind the skin. His fingers curled in order to take control of her body - a rigid, awkward movement, like a puppeteer. He had the distinct feeling that if he softened his stance control over her would slip. Slowly, he moved her arms around, getting a feel for how it felt.

Zuko had expected to be repulsed by the sensation of blood bending another person - especially Katara, but actually he felt very calm, just like when he was water bending. In retrospect, he didn’t really know why he had anticipated repulsion - he hardly felt repulsed by the creation of lightening, and he doubted Toph disliked metal bending.

“Alright Zuko, now I’m going to start resisting,” said Katara. She, too, looked relatively calm.

“What do you mean resist?” he asked, dropping his hold and letting her arms flop to her sides.

“Well, I’ve been letting you do what you want, but that is hardly ever going to happen. I will try to resist and you will need to use more force to control my body. Are you ready?”

Zuko gritted his teeth but nodded, retaking his stance. He hoped that he didn’t hurt her.

This time was more difficult, he needed to focus all his attention on maintaining his hold and bending her to his will. In the back of his mind he could understand how people could become addicted to such power, but he pushed that thought away.

Eventually Katara’s face contorted in pain and she gave over control. Zuko dropped his stance.

They both stood staring at one another, breathing heavily. Katara nodded and forced a smile.

“I think thats enough for tonight,” she murmured, turning towards where Toph sat in the distance.

Zuko caught her arm.

“Katara, wait. There is something I’ve been meaning to tell you. Uncle made me promise not to but I think you have a right to know,” he started hesitantly.

“Spit it out Zuko!”

“Your family is coming here. To the palace. They are arriving with Iroh.” He was looking away, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

Katara exhaled audibly.

“Thank you for telling me,” she said cordially, controlling her rising panic. “How long to I have to prepare for this?”

“Erm… they arrive tomorrow.”

 


	11. The Old and the Wise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katara's family convene at the Fire Palace and she must face them and their traditions as well as Iroh...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Life has a rather frustrating way of keeping me away from my writing. I cannot apologise enough for the months of delay this update has taken and will try my best to not repeat that again! I would also like to say, in response to my criticism of how I 'got rid of Aang', that Aang is by no means gone from the story. He is a major part of how everything plays out, but I needed some character development from the others first. As always, comments and criticisms always welcome!

** Chapter 11: The Old and the Wise **

 

Katara was seething from Zuko’s admission throughout her instruction of Toph. As predicted, Toph found this the hardest of the elements so far; water needed a delicacy earth bending didn’t teach - and especially since she couldn’t see what she was doing, simple moves took a lot longer. However, drawing on her knowledge of fire and metal, and in relishing the new sensations the moon had opened up within her, she didn’t complain once.

As soon as they deemed the lesson over and headed back to the palace, Toph noticed there was something off about Katara and Zuko. They weren’t being gooey, nor at one another’s throats, which could only mean big things had happened while she had been meditating.

“Right! What’s wrong? What’s going on?!” Burst Toph, stopping them in their tracks in one of the stone corridors.

“Ask _him_ ,” said Katara bitterly, jerking her head towards Zuko. The movement was lost on the blind girl.

“Uhh… Iroh is getting back tomorrow, and he is bringing Katara’s family,” he stated simply. Toph frowned and brushed the hair away from her face in pensiveness.

“But… that’s a good thing isn’t it?” she asked, truly confused.

“A good thing? How could that possibly be a good thing!” cried Katara with a hint of hysteria in her voice.

“Fuck, calm down Sugar, what the hell is this all about?” replied Toph, calm but defensive.

“Iroh is coming back. Which means that we will have to tell him about all this… this… multiple bending thing! Because if we don’t he will figure it out… and what if he thinks that we shouldn’t be doing it? Will he make me change all our chi flows back? We aren’t masters in the other elements, we could be considered dangerous without that knowledge! And as if that wasn’t enough, I will have to deal with my family who probably want to make me go back to the North Pole and marry fucking Naraak!”

“Wow, wow, hold up! Who is Naraak?” frowned Toph. Katara sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.

“It’s a long story,” she shut down, turning to continue walking.

“Oh no you don’t princess, you are coming to my room and you are talking us through all this! We have to be here too!” demanded Toph, arms folded across her chest. There was no reply so she started walking towards her chambers, aware of the two following her some way behind and somewhat reluctantly.

Once in her room, she sat down on a cushion on the floor and prompted an explanation.

“Look, Toph,” started Zuko, still extremely tense, “while Katara was in the North Pole, they wanted her - as cheif-daughter of the Southern Water Tribe - to marry into the Northern one. She refused, thats all there is to it,” he explained, hoping to have avoided an outburst from Katara.

Toph snorted. “Oh yeah cause they totally could convince Sugar Queen to take a husband from there! What did you do Sweetness? Flatten the tribe?”

Katara, however, was uncharacteristically silent. Toph could feel her heartbeat picking up and Zuko saw a fierce blush rise to her cheeks.

“I may have skimmed over a few complications when I explained it to you Zuko…” she admitted, avoiding eye contact. There was a tense silence as they both waited for her to continue.

“When I was in the North Pole I wanted to access the records about fighting with water bending - but since I was a woman I wasn’t allowed. I found a way of sneaking in anyway and would read every night. Except that one night I fell asleep and the person to find me was a guy called Naraak whose job it was to prepare the library for use every day. Instead of turning me in he helped me get away and ‘accidentally’ lost his keys so that I didn’t have to sneak around.” Katara smiled in memory and then took another breath.

“I guess you could say we started having a fling - we got on well and it was all good fun and one thing led to another… Nobody was meant to find out - it wasn’t serious on either side and we both agreed to do nothing about it. But, of course, people found out. Luckily they didn’t discover the library part, but only about the affair. See, the thing is, the Northern Water tribe is extremely strict about marriage and the things you can and can’t do before it. At my age I should already have been betrothed…

“Had it been anybody else it would have been a scandal but eventually forgotten. Since I was Master Katara, Cheif-Daughter of the Southern Water Tribe, it was unacceptable. They demanded we marry immediately to cover up the whole affair. Of course I refused. Rather forcefully. I thought… I thought it was just political speak, and I wasn’t going to take any of it.

“My father though… he only spoke to me once after that meeting. He told me that he and my mother had given their lives to make mine what it is and that I was disrespecting both of them by not obeying him.”

Katara sat silently, playing with her hands, trying to keep the tears that had welled in her eyes form spilling over. She remembered how she had run away the same night, hardly sleeping for days in an attempt to put as much distance between her and the North as possible. At that point she had felt completely cut of from the Water Tribes. Her family had rejected her, her people had rejected her. She had considered that she was in the same situation then as Toph had been when they first met; refusing to bow down to an order that would not bring her happiness, one that would trap her at the mercy of others. Toph had run away to escape, and Katara had just done the same. More than anything else, she felt alone. She had taken refuge in the part of the world furthest from both poles; the Fire Nation. Everything had deteriorated from there until she reached the Sage’s island.

“No. Way. But Hakoda was so nice when we met him!” cried Toph, slamming a fist into the floor. She was unnaturally moved by the story. Katara assumed she, too, must see the similarity in their tales.

“I don’t know Toph. I’m scared he is coming here to force me to go back,” she explained quietly, splaying her fingers out on her thigh.

“Absolutely not!” snapped Zuko. “You are here as my guest and you can stay here as long as you like - no other Nation has the right to remove a guest from my lands without my permission - Iroh would agree. You do not need to go back if you don’t want to Katara,” said Zuko forcefully through his teeth, grabbing one of her hands and looking at her earnestly.

Katara gently squeezed back.

“Thank you Zuko. But there is no way I’m going back to marry Naraak. I am a Southern Water Tribe woman and I will marry who I want and when I want. They cannot stop me.” Katara sighed and bowed her head. “I just don’t like fighting with my family, that’s all.”

“Who does?” muttered Toph sadly.

All three sat in silence for a while, listening to the crickets singing on the other side of the windows. It was a sad, slow song tonight; an ode to the moon and the way she made her subjects reflect on themselves; a melancholy tune of heartstrings pulled painfully tight under their chests. Zuko thought of how he had turned against his father and sister; Toph of how she had run away from her mother and father; Katara of how she had refused her father and her tribe. When the three returned to their beds, they fell asleep lulled by the ballads of the crickets that reminded them they were not alone in suffering from their wounds.

 

* * *

 

 

Katara woke with the first light of dawn. She was more determined today; the sun had ignited a power within her that gave her strength. Looking to her side, she saw Zuko already awake, his arm around her, and staring at the ceiling lost in thought. Katara wriggled towards him and kissed his scarred cheek gently.

Zuko looked at Katara, worry in his eyes, and pulled her closer to plant a soft kiss on her lips.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before. I didn’t know the whole story,” he said quietly.

“Iroh told you not to say anything. How long do we have before they get here?” she asked. She seemed honestly resigned to the idea.

“A few hours. Come on, lets go to the gardens and enjoy our last few moments alone,” said Zuko softly, hoping that the sunlight and fresh air would calm her nerves - and his. His mind kept flitting between facing Iroh about their new bending abilities and facing Katara’s family about her future. Her story the night before had offered him little sleep for a few different reasons.

The most trivial but the most frustrating was the thought of Katara with another man. A man who probably did not care about her and yet she had given herself to. And, Zuko reasoned, he was probably the one to let slip about the affair. He tried in his mind to create a face and his dreams were filled with this phantom-Naraak dying in various ways. Sometimes he fused with Jet, creating a generic Katara’s-past-lovers impersonation. Jealousy coursed through his body although he tried to keep it at bay, concentrating on calming his breathing and trying not to set anything on fire. His jaw hurt from clenching his teeth so much.

_But she is here with you_ , he told himself. _She didn’t want to be with Naraak but she wants to be with you!_ He knew that what they had was different to Katara and Naraak, but he was constantly second guessing himself…

Secondly, and more seriously, Hakoda’s rejection of Katara squeezed his heart in a familiar way. He knew what it was to be rejected by a father when you don’t have anybody else to rely on. True, his was rather more violent, but the scar stopped burning years ago whereas the internal wounds still bled. He imagined Toph would have gone through the same thing. Why were they all doomed to be broken? Shouldn’t this be a time for rebuilding?!

But then there was Katara herself. He had admired her when they fought, when they tracked down the southern raiders, when she healed him… even more when she stood up to Aang, set her own path and found how to control chi… but now, knowing about how she handled the situation with the captain and how she asserted her freedom by standing up to her family and tribes, he had reached un unrivalled sense of awe. This girl, sleeping by his side, tossing and turning in her sleep, her hair sticking to her cheeks and her eyes frantically searching for something underneath long, dark eyelashes - this girl who her tribe wanted to keep locked up in a loveless marriage, was without a doubt the strongest person he had ever met. He doubted even Iroh was as strong at her age.

 

Katara took his hand and gently led him to the gardens.

 

* * *

 

 

The sun shone brightly today, clouds having run from the heat. It was infectious. Soon the two were carefully avoiding talk about the future, and instead sat under a tree, appreciating the scattered shadows it offered them. The heat made them sleepy, and they found themselves lolling about on the grass, playing with one another’s hair and laughing about nothing in particular.

Katara found her way into Zuko’s arms, and when he sat up, into his lap, just as they had that beautiful day he’d had nothing do to. Absent mindedly they were kissing one another - not hurriedly or forcefully, but lightly, lazily, matching the gentle breeze that sometimes dripped through the gardens, as though by their slow movements they could stop time passing altogether

 

“Why Nephew! Now, this is a surprise!” cried a familiar voice, followed by a low, rumbled chuckle.

 

Both teenagers whipped around, Katara tumbling from Zuko’s lap. Zuko silently praised the spirits that he hadn’t got excited, and fixed Uncle Iroh with a horrified expression. Katara just looked guilty.

Lin appeared just behind Iroh carrying a tray with a steaming teapot and a selection teas.

“Ah, right on time, thank you Lin,” said Iroh, a mischievous smile still playing on his lips. Lin set the tea down between Zuko and Katara, bowed to the Fire Lord and retreated quickly. Iroh sat down cross legged, completing a little triangle around the tea and started brewing as if there was nothing to it.

As Zuko observed the familiar movements, he felt a lump rise in his throat. He had missed Iroh; he was relieved at his return. In an uncharacteristically affectionate move, Zuko managed to lock his hands around Iroh’s neck and pull him into an embrace. If Iroh was surprised he didn’t show it, but hugged his nephew back with another chuckle.

“I’m glad you’re back uncle,” admitted Zuko in a low voice.

“Glad to be back! Especially since it seems I have missed much in my absence,” he grinned, looking pointedly at Katara. She swallowed hard, her mouth suddenly dry; he had no idea how much he had missed.

“So,” Iroh continued, pouring tea for the three of them, “when can we expect the wedding?”

Both Zuko and Katara choked on what they were drinking, much to the amusement of Uncle. Zuko recovered first.

“Uncle, you said in your letter that Katara’s family would join you?” It wasn’t a subtle conversation change but at least it would involve not talking about marriage!

“Ah yes! They are being seen to their rooms to freshen up and will meet us in the Great Hall,” said Iroh calmly, taking another sip of his tea. “They will need time to catch up, Master Pakku and Cheif-Mother Kanna have come from the south while Chief Hakoda has come from the Earth Kingdom where he was negotiating trade I believe…”

“And Sokka?” asked Katara quietly, staring at the tea swirling in her cup, not daring to meet Iroh’s intelligent gaze.

“Sokka and Suki are needed to run Kyoshi and the South Pole in the absence of everybody else,” he stated calmly, very aware that something was wrong with Katara. Her shoulders slumped slightly in disappointment and her face had paled somewhat at the talk of her family. He knew that something had happened between them, but he expected Katara to be at least excited by their arrival.

 

Lin appeared to inform them that the congregation had regrouped in the Great Hall and were awaiting their arrival. Iroh sighed at having his tea drinking cut short, but calmly placed his cup and the teapot back onto the tray and rose beckoning for the teenagers to follow his lead. They glanced at one another and Zuko squeezed Katara’s hand in encouragement - a gesture that did not go unnoticed by Iroh.

 

In the Great Hall there were benches and seats enough for a whole army. It could be used as a dining room or a ball room or for any number of things. However, the small party that sat in one corner now were dwarfed by the room, its walls imposingly decorated in golden dragons with ruby eyes. This could not be helped however, Iroh wanted the meeting to take place here for he had a suspicion as to how it would unfold.

“Katara!” cried Kanna, holding out her arms as soon as she saw her granddaughter. Katara looked relieved as she ran and all but collapsed into her grandmother’s arms.

“I’ve missed you grangran,” she whispered into the old woman’s hair. She breathed in the familiar smell of smoke and her favourite foods and stole herself as she straightened to look for her father.

“Chief Hakoda,” she said in greeting, inclining her head, but with a question in her eyes. Could she call him father? Was he _her_ chief Hakoda? He merely nodded in reply, arms crossed and eyes cold. Katara tried to fight the lump rising in her throat and turned to the last member of the group. “Master Pakku, it is lovely to see you looking so well!” She was forcing a smile and was well aware at how fake it looked. However, Pakku was an intelligent man and knew something else was going on.

He smiled brilliantly.

“Master Katara, always flattering! Come, let me hug you for you are now my granddaughter too,” he laughed at her thankful expression and gave her a hug, more of encouragement than of greeting. If there was anything he knew it was that Master Katara was strong, so to see her so distressed meant much.

Kanna was looking from Hakoda to Katara with narrowed eyes.

“Katara, tell me what happened in the North,” she demanded in her grangran-is-being-patient voice.

Katara took a deep breath.

“I… well…” the lump in her throat closed up. If she continued she would break down - she was sure of it. She turned her pleading eyes to Zuko who thankfully took the hint.

“Katara had an affair and they tried to make her marry him. She refused,” stated Zuko simply. This had nothing to do with him and he wanted to let Katara work it out. However, should she need anything he was there.

Kanna observed Zuko from her old yet intelligent eyes - eyes as blue as Katara’s and just as piercing. She tore them away and found Hakoda.

“Is this true?” she asked icily.

“Yes,” he replied bitterly. “Please convince her to do the right thing by her family and her tribe! She is not just some girl, she is the Cheif’s daughter! And if she can’t live up to that then there is no place in the Southern Water Tribe for her!” there seemed to be no question in his mind as to where Kanna would stand on the matter.

“Katara, Zuko, would you please leave us a moment?” Zuko was used to fire, but he sincerely quivered in the face of such coolness and iciness. The woman may be old, her voice raspy and her muscles weak, but he had no doubt in that moment of her strength and her wrath.

“I will take Zuko and Katara to the tea room,” chimed in Iroh in a serene voice that only he could maintain in the current arctic atmosphere that had penetrated the whole great hall. “When you wish to join us we will have tea ready for you!”

 

* * *

The great doors clanged shut behind them and Iroh’s countenance dropped.

“Zuko, I feel like Katara should know what is going on in there. I will meet you in the tea room,” he whispered urgently before regaining his composure and sauntering off whistling to himself.

Zuko took Katara’s hand, fearful that she might pass out - she had lost the majority of the colour in her face and had stopped responding to what was going on around her. He lead her down another corridor until they reached one of the many statues lining the walls. Slipping behind it, Zuko felt around in the darkness trying to find a small hole, into which is blasted a tiny fireball. There was no noise as the mechanism unlocked and the whole wall seemed to move backwards just far enough for a person to slip through the edges.

Katara didn’t react.

Zuko pulled her through, closed the secret door and lead her along the passageway to one particular wooden door, identical to others along the same corridor. This he opened and indicated that Katara sit on one of the few large pillows scattered on the floor. On the wall opposite the door there was a round disk which he dislodged to reveal a tube leading into the wall and curving upwards.

As soon as the disk was moved, familiar voiced could be heard. Katara suddenly seemed to wake from her stupor.

“Are we listening to the great hall?” she whispered.

Zuko merely nodded. “I can leave if you don’t want me to hear,” he offered.

“No, please stay,” she asked quietly. Zuko sat down next to her and they both turned their attention to what was going on below.

 

* * *

 

 

“… All of the other councillors and rulers of the North were in agreement, she completely disrespected our customs!” Hakoda’s voice rang out, recounting his side of the story.

“Don’t you EVER say that!” Kanna’s voice, low but full of authority. “Our traditions are NOT those of the North. If you want those traditions then leave the Southern Tribe and join the Northern one.”

“We must create relations with the North or the South will not survive!”

“Oh yes, the North that did not come to our aid when we needed it most during the war? The North that let the last of the Southern men leave in defence of the Water Tribes while they had armies sat behind their walls?”

“Yes, so they could protect Tui and La!”

“Then offer us ships and take the rest of us in too! No, the North will always be looking out for their own gains first and foremost. We cannot become them - we have neither the strength nor the wealth to do so. We are Southern Tribe! And regardless of how much was taken and how much was destroyed we survived without the walls to protect us or the water benders to defend us! And you know why? Do you know why Hakoda? Because we _adapted_. With no water benders we trained warriors, with no warriors we laid low - those who would not hunt learned to hunt, those who could not move learned to remain unnoticed. We are the ones who suffered most, we are the ones who survived regardless. We do NOT need to become the Northern Water Tribe!”

“You know nothing of war old woman!” roared Hakoda uncharacteristically losing his temper.

“I KNOW EVERYTHING OF WAR,” she replied equally loudly. “I know of suffering, I have watched people be taken; I have watched people die; I know hunger; I know loneliness; I know fear; I know fighting - success’ joyless relief and the punishment of failure; I know of rape and murder and desperation; I know the smell of burnt flesh, of charred bodies in the snow; I know of blood running deep in the waters - how many nights have I woken up to screams piercing the air, to men and women begging me to save them or end them! Do not speak to me of war! I have lived in war longer than you have lived at all!”

There was a silence, nobody quite sure how to break it. Zuko was now also feeling faint, memories of how he had manhandled the old woman the first time they met while he knew nothing of what she had been through. Shame prickled behind his eyes.

“The real question is,” continued Kanna, in a more composed tone, “what do _you_ know of Katara?”

There was another silence. Idly, Zuko wondered what Pakku was making of all this. Kanna continued.

“You were not there, Hakoda. You did not see her grow up. I did. I saw her mourn when she was to young to know how to mourn and take on a woman’s duty when she should have been playing. She was lonely, the village too small to fill that fiercely intelligent brain of hers. She would sit out by the water staring at the horizon for hours on end, her and Sokka. Her determination with water bending was the only thing keeping her going, but her heart kept her at home. She did not have festivals or birthday celebrations growing up, she only knew hardship, and she only had vague old stories to tell her about times when things were better. She knew you were out fighting, but for what Hakoda? For somebody who knew no differently, you were simply not there…”

“I am still her father,” interrupted Hakoda, but in a wavering tone, not as sure as he was before.

“And she your daughter,” replied Pakku. “But she knows what is best for herself Hakoda… and you cannot demand this of her when she has grown having to look after herself. This is not something to distance your family over… believe me, a lonely man’s life is miserable…”

“I appreciate that Master Pakku, but I am also Chief. I must do what is best for everybody as well as my own!” Hakoda’s voice had lost emotion. It was as if he was repeating a mantra all too familiar to his tongue.

“Then do not treat her as an object to be bartered. She is my granddaughter! If anything, blame me! Do you know how many affairs I have had in my long years? Southern Tribe customs saw no issue with pre-marital affairs, women and men were allowed to marry who they pleased and learn what they could … and that worked well. People were alive instead of repressed into strict social boundaries like I was in the North. It was not a place for me and it is not a place for Katara. And what’s more, Hakoda, you may be Chief, but you do not have ultimate say in tribe decisions; as I recall it is a vote in a whole-tribe meet to banish a person, and by La I will vote ‘No’ till my dying day!” Kanna’s voice cracked and Katara heard that familiar sobbing that would sometimes haunt her dreams late into the night.

“Make peace with Katara, make peace with your tribe - leave the North to their traditions and let the South grow back to the greatness it once had,” said Pakku gently.

Another voice’s sobs joined that of Kanna.

 

Katara slowly rose from her cushion and approached the disk in the wall, placing it over the hole. The sound cut out.

“I’ve heard enough,” she said quietly, turning back to Zuko. Her eyes shone in the candlelight but her voice was steady and she held herself straight.

Zuko lead the way to the tea room in silence, sneaking glances at Katara as they walked. She seemed to recover the further they strayed from the great hall, a certain peace descending upon her.

 

* * *

 

 

As they opened the door to the tea room, the light murmur of voices from inside abruptly stopped - both Zuko and Katara having the feeling that they were being talked about a few moments before.

“Ah! Come, sit, have tea!” cried an ever-joyous Iroh from one of the cushions. Next to him Toph was looking slightly uneasy, but she wiped the worry from her expression for the benefit of the sighted people in the room.

“So tell me,” continued Iroh, pouring each some green tea, “what was said?”

“Uncle!” cried Zuko, “You cannot just ask what was said in a personal encounter!”

“No, its alright Zuko,” said Katara, amused at his familial exasperation with the Fire Lord. “Grangran took my side. I realised that the whole issue has as much to do with everything else as with me!”

“That is a very wise lesson, Master Katara. The first step to forgiveness is understanding, and love demands forgiveness. Your family will find their balance like the harmonies of Pai Sho,” said Iroh slowly. “Now, I expect they will be occupied for a while longer. In the meantime, Toph has been showing me the tricks she can do with water and fire…”

Zuko and Katara looked at one another alarmed. Shit.


	12. On Secrets and Understanding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is sort of like ripping a plaster off; everything Katara had been anxious about seems to culminate here. Oh and rice wine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In reference to questions about Hakoda’s character… well he cannot be perfect. That is pretty much the premise for every character here, they all have their faults. And Hakoda’s is that he cares too much. He has found himself in charge of a broken community and is breaking his back in trying to set it straight. He feels very alone in his missions and so being able to grapple onto the Northern Water Tribe for help would have moved some of the responsibility from him. Also, this is not the first time he has done wrong by Katara; when they were first reunited she was angry at him for leaving. She does not feel that he appreciates her at all – but again there we see the good side of this character shine through, like I hope we do here too.

** Chapter 12: On Secrets and Understanding **

 

 

  

Katara sat in the Fire Palace gardens, her feet dangling in the little pond and utterly alone apart from the little turtle-ducks who occasionally came to nip at her feet questioningly. Or maybe they were hinting for food? She would just smile sadly at them and gently push them away on a little wave that sent them quacking angrily. She had escaped from the tea room without a word. She could not deal with so many things in such a short space of time. On the one hand she was relieved Toph went ahead to explain things, since she had dreaded recounting the whole story once more. How much should she say? How much should she hide?

But firstly, she needed to deal with her own family. Somehow, although the blood bending had the potential to destroy the very delicate structure the population was built upon, it seemed the lesser of the two issues.

Slowly, her hands went through the first water bending movements she had ever learned. She remembered countless times trying and failing to make the water do what she wanted in the South Pole, desperately keeping her mind away from the daily chores that were a reminder of how small her world was. Now, looking back, it was almost funny how difficult she had found it.

But this was the most natural of all water bending. A simple push and pull… push and pull… push and pull… hypnotic like watching the sea lapping onto the shore or the ripples spread out on a lake. This was the essence of everything she knew about bending.

Push and pull… push and pull…

Just like the currents that moved everybody through life. Nobody would do anything senseless, no matter how irrational it may seem… there is always a push and a pull making them act the way the did.

Understanding, had said Iroh, is the first step to forgiveness. She needed to see the push and pull.

 

* * *

 

 

Kanna walked into the garden, enjoying the unusual warmth the sun offered her. She sat down slowly next to her granddaughter.

“Katara, I hate to see you and your father fighting after you have spent so long apart,” she started softly. Katara didn’t answer, just kept her simple push and pull of the pond water. “I have tried to speak to your father,” continued Kanna. “He loves you Katara. Will you speak to him? You two must sort things out…” she trailed off, watching a much younger Katara playing with the water that called to her. She may be taller now, with longer hair and sharper cheekbones, a prouder stance… but she had the same lost look in her gaze as she’d had all those years ago.

“I’m not going to marry Naraak,” said Katara quietly but with a finality that would not be argued with.

“No, I think that much he has gathered. And if you did marry Naraak for the good of some treaty I won’t give you _any_ sea prunes whenever come to you visit.” A small smile played on Kanna’s lips at her attempt to lighten the mood.

Katara slowed her control of the water and turned to her grandmother, planting a kiss on her cheek and giving her a hug before silently walking off to find her father.

 

* * *

 

 

There was a knock at the tea-room door.

“Come in,” said a rather shaky Hakoda. He was seated by one table, tea already poured for two. Everybody else had left.

Katara quietly opened the door and closed it behind her, as if afraid to shatter whatever spell of peace was now permeating through the room. It was hard to imagine this place not peaceful though, the tall windows with streaming sunlight and the colourful cushions and the smell of tea… how could anybody shatter _that_ spell?

She seated herself across from her father, but was too timid to meet his gaze.

“Katara, I…” Hakoda stopped to clear his throat, unsure of how to continue. “Everything I do is for the good of you and your brother and the tribe…” he started, the words obviously well rehearsed. But they sounded false on his lips, as if he were speaking to another delegation.

“Am I an object to you?” cut in Katara, finally locking eyes with her father. He almost wished she hadn’t - when did she become so fierce?

“Err… No?”

“Then please don’t treat me as one.” She wasn’t shouting, nor was she glaring as she took a sip of tea. But the forced calm was more bitter than anything else could have been.

“Katara I have never treated you as an object!”

“You agreed with a council of old men who I should marry in order to bring the Tribes closer together, regardless of my wishes or feelings, and demanded me to comply.” Again, just facts.

Hacked sighed and closed his eyes.

“I was thinking of the Tribe,” he said to the table.

“The Tribe is made of people, Chief. Each one has a name and a story, things they want to do and learn, people they hate and love. And when a Tribesman or Woman dies, you remember their name, what they did and what they wanted to do. Nobody is just a number. You taught me that once…” Katara’s voice cracked slightly but she kept her composure.

Hakoda, though, looked up, stunned at hearing his own words echoed in his daughter’s voice. He was silent for a long time, unmoving, rooted to the spot. In his mind’s eye he went through everybody in the Tribe who had died in the war. For each one some words were said either at a proper funeral or after the battle - and without fail somebody would say something about what the person had wanted to do. He recalled the feeling of terrible frustration with the world he would have - _why_ had their life been cut short when there were so many more things to do?

He regarded his daughter. If she died right this second, what would they say at her funeral?

A chill ran down his spine as he realised he didn’t know.

Who was this woman sitting in front of him? She looked like his little girl - her eyes were big and round and the same clear blue of her grandmother. But she wore her mother’s necklace and dressed in Fire Nation red, she sat composed and calm instead of running around and playing. Who _was_ she?

He’d been thinking about the Tribe! He had lead good men into war and seen them die… he had lost his wife and his friends and his family… and now he had the rest of the Tribe to look after and to heal. And she was right, this stranger sitting in front of him, he had only considered her as a tool to gain the favour of the Northern Tribe.

But she was _not_ a tool, she was his _daughter_ \- although he was no longer sure what that meant. What father was he? He didn’t even know what she had been doing these past two years…

“Dad?” asked Katara, worriedly. He hadn’t moved - had hardly blinked - in a long time. It was if she was watching him age very quickly, his very skin seeming to droop from his determined set expression, his eyes hollow out, his lips thin to a scraggly white line.

Hakoda snapped out of his reverie, bowed his head and shut his eyes.

“I… I… it would seem that I was a far wiser man then than I am now.” He lifted his head and met her eyes - blue staring into blue, almost indistinguishable. “I had forgotten Katara. Can you forgive me?”

 

* * *

 

If, at that moment, somebody could sit on a sky-bison and look at a cross-section of the Fire Palace they would see three very different stories unfolding.

In the Royal Gardens an old couple sat by a pond feeding the turtle-ducks, the old man occasionally bending a thread of water to splash the old women, who laughed as if she was many years younger.

In a room filled with cushions and tea there was a man and a younger girl both laughing and crying, talking about something incomprehensible through sobs.

In the study of the Fire Prince, between the piles of papers and books, sat three. An older man with a long beard was pulling at it in thought; a young girl sat on the floor silently picking at her feet in what seemed like a nervous gesture; a young man with long black hair paced a well worn path through the papers explaining something seemingly important.

But the day was far from over, so let us return to the ground and excuse this rare overview of the situation.

 

* * *

When Hakoda and Kanna retired to their rooms to rest and freshen up for a dinner that was to be thrown in their honour, Master Pakku and Katara were summoned to Zuko’s study.

“Right, make this quick Iroh, I have a wife to attend to!” started Pakku impatiently, but with not-so-subtle pride at having a wife.

“Ah my friend! It is not I who must explain this tale, or I am sure I would make it very short indeed!” Pakku snorted.

There was a pause where Zuko and Katara looked at one another, the smile Katara had been wearing slowly dripping from her lips.

“Oh come on!” cried Toph. “Right. I will tell him. Katara went on some magical journey across the lands and learned how to blood bend - and since blood controls chi (don’t ask), she can move it about.”

“Meaning?” asked Pakku, his brow forrowing as he regarded his granddaughter-in-law.

“Meaning the three of us can bend more than one element,” finished Katara flatly. Pakku blinked.

“Well it was quick at least,” he muttered, sitting down on one of the chairs. “And you want to do something about this Iroh?”

“I don’t think we have much of a choice old friend,” Iroh replied pursing his lips.

“You know, I was quite looking forward to not doing any of this White Lotus stuff after the war…” trailed off Pakku, raising his eyes to the ceiling.

“All in good time Pakku. I will have my teashop and you can have your wife with no interruptions. Right now, though, it is down to us. Something like this getting out would terrify the general population - if this kind of knowledge falls into the wrong hands things could be so much worse than they have been.”

“The only way this information could fall into the wrong hands is through us,” said Katara quietly, “There is no way anybody else would follow the obscure trail I found myself on and figure it out. The knowledge is completely out of memory and any language we speak or remember.” Iroh looked at her.

“We will have to verify this, but I believe you. If this were easily accessible information we would have come across it already. I would suggest even to not mention the link to blood bending and chi bending to anybody, should they find out you are able to bend more than one element,” reasoned Iroh.

Katara bit her lip.

“Yue told us we were doing the right thing,” she started hesitantly. “She said that the world is too far out of balance and her children would find one another and set it right.” Pakku frowned.

“The spirits _know_?”

“I don’t think we can keep much of importance from them,” chuckled Iroh, but with a new twinkle in his eye. This took on a whole new meaning if the spirits were involved… but what were they up to?

“But surely the Avatar is the way to keep the balance?” pressed Pakku.

“It seems that is not enough,” said Iroh, speaking his thoughts.

“Aang can’t reach the Avatar state - hasn’t been able to in a long time,” stated Toph, drawing all eyes to her. She shrugged nervously, feeling their attention. “Maybe they have been trying to tell him something but can’t…” she suggested.

“Katara, can everybody be made to bend more than one element?” asked Pakku suddenly. She shook her head.

“No, only certain types of people. They…eh… they are different inside to the other benders.”

“Can you take away bending as well as give it?”

Katara thought a moment before replying. She didn’t know actually. She had always assumed she could but in all honesty she wasn’t sure if the process was reversible!

“I’m not sure, I’ve not tired. I assume so…”

Iroh and Pakku looked at one another worriedly.

“Katara, how did you learn to do this?” asked Iroh.

“Uhhh… I learned an odd mix of things and read a book and guessed what it meant and tried it out?” she replied, confused at what he was getting at.

“No, I mean _how_ did you learn? How did you manage it?” he asked patiently.

Katara thought.

“I meditated,” she said finally. “I meditated a lot until I was incredibly aware of myself and my element. The other elements I learned first by accessing this awareness. Always with meditation.”

Iroh gave a sigh of relief.

“I am glad to hear it. Control is the most important thing. However we need to know that this won’t get out of hand. Go to see Aang… perhaps it is time to bridge the rift between all of you and work out how to overcome these new developments?”

“Uncle I really don’t think Aang wants to see us,” started Zuko, glancing at Katara and Toph.

“I think what the Avatar thinks he wants and what he needs are two very different things. Regardless, It is too dangerous to continue in this matter without Aang’s knowing it…”

“Should any of you go crazy or be kidnapped or whatever,” added Pakku nodding, “Aang is the only one who can put a stop to it.”

Toph snorted.

“Not without his Avatar State he can’t” she muttered.

“Then perhaps it is time you helped him regain that state,” suggested Iroh.

“Perhaps it is time he gets his big bald head out of his arse,” countered Toph. Zuko raised his good eyebrow at her, even knowing she couldn’t see. Iroh chuckled.

“I think he has been missing a good dose of you Toph!” he answered, leaning backwards in an indication that the decision had been made. “It may not be easy but follow your hearts and keep a clear head, he will come round!”

Pakku rose, nodded to the company and left silently. Iroh too stood.

“Come, we have a feast tonight, and tomorrow you head for the Southern Air Temple!” He left smiling. For all his joviality and easy-going attitude, when the Fire Lord of the Fire Nation and Grand Master of the Order of the White Lotus gave an order, there was no question but to follow it.

  

* * *

 

 

Zuko washed and dressed, attempting to organise some papers between actions. As soon as he could justify it to himself, though, he went in search of Katara.

She was sitting, fully ready for the dinner, on her bed staring out the window when he came into her room. He joined her in watching the last embers of the day fade from the sky.

“You worked things out with your father?” he asked. To tell the ruth he already knew, but wanted to hear it from Katara.

“Yes. He came through.” She sighed. “I think he is very stressed and feels like he has the whole Tribe’s future on his shoulders… he just forgot about the people making up the Tribe.” They were quiet for a moment.

“I’m worried about confronting Aang,” continued Katara. “You know I would send him messages the whole time I was travelling? Not once did he reply. Not once!”

“The few times I saw him he was cold towards me too. He’s thrown all his energy into the projects he’s started at the air temples,” said Zuko thoughtfully.

“Oh the orphanages?”

“Yes, he has two now in the Southern and Western Air Temples. I’m not sure if they will work though… there are no air bending orphans so he is raising the earth, fire and non bending ones as if they were monks like him. I don’t know what he intends to do… if he throws them back into their respective societies they will know next to nothing about them, but if he keeps them at the temples how will they survive?”

“Maybe he hopes they will grow and choose to stay to cultivate the surrounding land? They cannot travel as the Air Benders once did. The world is a different place. And they can’t fly!”

“I’m not sure, but the only thing we can ——“

Zuko was cut off by a knock at the door. Lin appeared to inform them that it was time for the feast.

“Come, Katara. Try to forget everything for now, we have a surprise for you,” he said gently, taking her hand and leading her towards dinner.

  

* * *

 

 

“SOKKA!!!!!!” screamed Katara upon seeing her goofy idiot of a brother waiting by the dining table in the Great Hall. All Sokka saw was something flying towards him very quickly and then his little sister hugging him very tightly.

“Woah, Katara, calm down!” he laughed, but hugged her back just as tightly.

“But how! Weren’t you supposed to be running the South?!”

“Well we were actually on Kyoshi and when we heard this little gathering was happening we thought we would detour to say hello… and catch a ride with Dad and Grangran back South.”

Suki stepped forward and Katara threw herself onto her future sister-in-law just as forcefully.

“I’m so happy to see you both! You have no idea…” Katara told them, her eyes shining in earnest.

“SOKKA! SUKI!” cried a familiar voice behind them, and another girl threw herself at both of them. Toph had felt their familiar vibrations from the hall, but then hearing their voices from outside the door confirmed her suspicions.

Zuko stood awkward slightly behind Katara, looking at his shoes. He still was not good with emotional situations. Maybe with Katara, but they were close and he felt comfortable… in these familial moments he was at a loss and wasn’t sure if he should also throw himself on the couple. He smirked at that image. He would probably crush both of them.

Sokka noticed his awkwardness and roped him into a bear hug.

“Good to see you Zuko,” he said sincerely, drawing a smile from the older boy.

 

The door opened again to reveal the older generations, all already aware of Sokka and Suki’s arrival. When all greetings were done they sat on luxurious silk cushions around a low, round, wooden table engraved with gold and silver. In the middle was a slightly raised wooden circle that spun to allow everybody access to food - food that was being continually brought and replaced by the Palace staff. Plates, chopsticks and cups sat expectantly in front of each person, the cups being constantly filled with rice wine.

The mood at the beginning was slightly uneasy, too many topics being off limits for peaceful and polite conversation. However, as is the case when a whole party feels nervous, the rice wine was drunk quickly and rather too much. Soon the conversation had turned very open and rowdy - with the exception of Suki who, unobserved by the others, had asked for water instead of wine.

 

“Little sister, what’s this I hear about you doing a… waddyamacallit? Ani Tai?” Started Sokka a bit too loudly for the table.

“Agni Kai!” corrected Zuko, giggling. It really wasn’t that funny but at that moment he found it hilarious and he didn’t care.

Sokka waved his hand dismissively.

“Whatever! Anyway what the fuck was that about?!”

“Dear La!” exclaimed Katara looking up at the ceiling. “Will nobody ever leave me alone!”

“What is an Agni Kai?” asked Kanna. The old woman seemed to be having a fantastic time, but she was continually forgetting what was going on and cuddling her husband quite openly.

“If somebody is challenged to an Agni Kai it means they fight in an arena with only bending until either one is killed or one kneels in submission to the other… at that point the winner can choose their fate. It is an old tradition and we use it to settle honour disputes,” explained Iroh. He was even more merry that usual and laughed boisterously at everything. “Now they are very rare though!”

“Why were you fighting somebody to the death?” pushed Hakoda, now alarmed. Toph, Iroh and Zuko went very quiet.

“Uhh… Honour dispute?” tried Katara, hoping this would be enough. For some reason even though they were talking about her and her experiences she felt relaxed and very far away. She was floating in a sea of happiness at having her family around her for the first time in too long. They were here, and they were safe, and they loved her.

“Lil sis, your stories are fascinaaaating,” mocked Sokka, leaning forward in a way not unlike the cactus-juice episode he’d had in the desert.

“This eh… this man took advantage of me and so I challenged him to an Agni Kai,” she stated simply. Well, that was all there was to it really, they didn’t need to know about exactly what happened!

“WHAT?!” shouted both Hakoda and Sokka, almost flipping the table over in their instinctual bid to stand up.

“Geez, calm down!” cried Toph, whose rice wine spilt on her dress. She started dabbing at it angrily as a server appeared to refill her cup.

“Somebody took ADVANTAGE of you?!” cried Hakoda, having reseated himself.

“Ehh… yeah,” replied Katara, exchanging worried but amused looks with Zuko. This really wasn’t funny. So why was she finding it hilarious?

“What! Who? When?! Where? Why would you fight to the death? What were you thinking!” Babbled Hakoda, trying to grasp what he was hearing with a very dizzy head.

“She won though,” said Sokka, looking in awe at his sister.

“Look, it doesn’t matter, its all in the past, alright?” said Katara angrily. They were ruining her happiness! She took another gulp of rice wine.

“Did you kill him?” asked Kanna serenely.

“No, I made him kneel to me,” replied Katara between gulps.

“Where is he! If he’s not dead then I’ll make him wish he was, you don’t worry little sister, leave it to me!” cried Sokka, suddenly incensed now that he thought he could do something about it.

“Oh no,” said Zuko darkly, “he’s dead. He was a Captain in the Fire Navy, and his Admiral executed him for dishonourable conduct. I would have seen to it if he hadn’t.” Zuko wasn’t finding it funny anymore. He felt angry again, all over, his hands shaking with the strength of his emotion. Just remembering that Agni-damned face was enough to make him every bit as murderous as he imagined his father to have been.

“What moves did you use, Katara?” asked Pakku, who was away with his imagination of the power of water against fire - and water winning!

Conversation degenerated to private discussions as Katara animatedly recounted her moves with the ice and the floating ball of water. Toph listened in too.

“Aw man! I wish I’d been there to feel his shock at being beaten by Katara!” she chimed in. She didn’t mention that she wanted to feel how the water moved too.

 

Sokka clanged against his cup to get everybody’s attention.

“Everybody! We were going to wait, but I just can’t keep it a secret from you all because I love you so much! And you know that any event that is important to me, I want to share with you guys and —“

“Oh just get on with it Sokka!” cried Toph.

“Suki and I are pregnant!!” he cried gleefully. Suki choked on her water a little bit.

“We are most definitely NOT! I am pregnant, you are _not_ pregnant - do you have to deal with morning sickness and fatigue and hormonal stuff?!” She protested.

“But,” replied a confused Sokka, “we’re having a baby?”

Suki rolled her eyes in exasperation.

“Yes, Sokka and I are having a baby. I am pregnant,” she announced.

“I will be an aunt!” cried Katara.

“A Great-grandmother! At my age!” said Kanna, shocked but smiling.

“Dear you don’t look a day over fifty!” cooed Pakku, earning him a kiss.

“Aw man! Can I name it?” asked Toph eagerly, leaning forward towards Suki.

Iroh just laughed.

“But you’re not married!” said Hakoda, looking confused. Suki looked worriedly at Sokka. Katara rolled her eyes.

“What is your obsession with marriage Dad?” she demanded.

“Well they’re starting a family!” he said in defence.

“Yeah well me and Suki have been together for a long time and I will never leave her… we can get married if that makes you happy…” explained Sokka, as if to a three year old.

“But _after_ the baby,” chimed in Suki, “If we marry I want it to be perfect, and I don’t think me throwing up all over the place is part of that!”

Everybody laughed and Suki looked relieved.

Hakoda patted Sokka on the shoulder. “I’m happy for you son!”

Toph pursed her lips and in her inebriated state thought it would be funny to put one last secret on the table.

“Zuko, Katara, when are you two going to have a baby?” she asked, a mischievous expression on her face.

Both teenagers turned bright red.

“WHAT?” shouted several voices around the table. Iroh roared in laughter.

“You are seeing _him_ ,” asked Kanna. “The angry boy who chased you around the world? The one who picked me up by my coat when he crashed through our village? The one who was obsessed with capturing the only hope the world had of ending the war?” Zuko’s eyes widened in shock. Katara nodded slowly. “I like him,” declared Kanna, rewarded with another bout of laughter.

“Why is everybody sleeping with my little girl!” protested Hakoda, staring Zuko down thunderously.

“I haven’t slept with her!!” he replied instinctually, holding up his hands.

“Why haven’t you slept with her?! Is she not attractive enough for you?!” demanded Hakoda.

“I.. What! No, of course, she is beautiful… I really do want ——“

“Dad! It is none of your business! Leave Zuko alone!” Zuko looked very confused and a bit distraught, his face still bright red in embarrassment. Toph was giggling uncontrollably.

“Zuko, man, I’m not sure if I’m ok with you boning my sister…” started Sokka in drunken honesty.

“Oh La! Sokka, it is none of your business either! Will you all keep your oversized noses out of my love life!” cried Katara, finishing her cup in one and slamming it back on the table.

“Speaking of love life,” started Kanna sleepily, “we seem to know much about Katara’s and Sokka’s, but we are missing you, Toph, and Hakoda… and of course Iroh! Come, everything out on the table,” she demanded, swaying slightly here she sat. Pakku silently took her cup and moved it out of her reach.

“Pretty boring right now, nothing to tell,” said Toph shrugging and picking up some more food.

All eyes turned to Hakoda.

“I… eh…no…nothing…” he eyed his children guiltily.

“Its alright Dad, Mum’s been gone a looooong time,” assured Sokka.

“Well… I met this woman in the Earth Kingdom,” he started and then stopped.

“And?” pressed Toph.

“And she was nice. That’s it. We met and she was nice.”

“Riiiiiiight. Ok. I gotcha Dad!” laughed Sokka, poking Hakoda in the ribs with his elbow and winking not-so-subtly.

“Well I have many stories to tell!” announced Iroh, taking a deep breath to dive into one of his many stories of conquests.

Everybody groaned.

 

 


	13. Metal Ships

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The next leg of the journey starts as Toph, Zuko and Katara go in search of Aang – bit first there is a hangover to cure and some important questions to be answered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I know, again long gaps. I’m sorry☹ Written this as a series of short snippets across a few days, tell me if it works!

It could be said that it was convenient that the reigning Fire Lord also had rice wine at the feast; for neither he, nor his guests woke up early the next morning. It seemed to be an unspoken decision that their individual journeys would be delayed at least another day - or however long the hangovers lasted.

Zuko woke up to a green-faced Katara sitting up and clutching her head. The night before, when the party had broken up and stumbled off to bed, they had shared a very passionate - if sloppy - kiss in the hallway. Zuko had pulled Katara into his room in an unusual gesture of headless passion, but as soon as they flopped down on the bed, they both promptly fell asleep, fully clothed.

Zuko groaned. He’d meant to say her name but for some reason it didn’t quite work.

“I know how you feel,” she responded, voice muffled by her hands. He considered sitting up, he really did, but the actions simply weren’t happening.

“We need tea,” he croaked. It was Katara’s turn to groan.

“There is no way I’m going to go get us tea!” she replied, slowly lowering herself back down and staring straight upwards to combat her dizziness.

Zuko lifted himself up so he could reach a small handle coming out of the wall by his bed. He pulled this and lay back down. Distantly, in Katara’s hazy mind, she wondered what it was for, but she lacked the energy to ask.

Soon afterwards, however, there was a knock at the door.

“Please tell me you’ve brought tea!” said Zuko, just loudly enough to be heard outside. It made both of them wince with the loudness though.

“Yes, Fire Prince Zuko,” came the reply in an amused voice. The server let himself in and placed the tea on the table. He took in the two teenagers still fully clothed sprawled on top of the bedspread.

“Too… far…away…” insisted Katara, melodramatically. The server hid a smile as he placed the tea tray between the two on the bed, although he thought that it would end up spilt between them.

“Would you like me to open the curtains, Fire Prince?” he asked. Zuko sighed.

“I supposed we should get it over with. Yes, go ahead.”

Light shone into the room, causing both to cover their eyes. Judging by the intensity, Zuko figured it must be near noon. The server excused himself and left quickly.

Katara turned to Zuko and giggled.

“What?” he asked, pouring both of them some tea.

“You look a state Zuko!” she exclaimed, reaching out and ruffling his already messy hair. It was sticking out at odd angles and flopping adorably over his golden eyes. Zuko turned a light shade of pink and tried to flatten his hair. Katara caught his hand.

“No, don’t! I like it,” she said smiling over her cup of tea. Zuko turned even brighter pink. He looked at a loss as to what to do with his hands, and settled by having more tea. Once again, Katara wondered why the ex-banished-angry-prince and the now Fire-Prince-in-charge-of-the-Fire-Nation was so timid and gentle around her.

Spontaneously she shuffled over and wriggled her way into his arms, kissing his neck affectionately. She felt him smile as he wrapped his free arm around her to pull her closer.

“Katara?” started Zuko tentatively.

“Yes Zuko?”

“I ——“

 

There was another knock at the door. Zuko exhaled angrily, but didn’t have a chance to tell whoever it was to fuck off, as the door opened to reveal a very disheveled Toph.

“You’re not naked are you?” asked Toph in the direction of the bed. Her voice was raspy as if her throat were raw.

Katara sat up, worried about her little friend.

“No, we’re fully clothed in what we were wearing last night… What’s wrong Toph?” she asked, frowning.

Toph turned, kicking the door shut, and climbed carefully onto the bed by Zuko’s side, forcing him to shuffle into the middle.

“I… I heard there was tea?” she said uncertainly. Katara looked around for another teacup but found none, so she quickly finished hers and passed it to Toph. One of the things Toph was enjoying about her new found ability to water bend was being able to take the tea straight from the teapot to her cup, without having to guess where the liquid was going.

There were tears in Toph’s sightless eyes.

She buried her head into Zuko’s shoulder which earned a panicked look at Katara questioning what to do. Katara rolled her eyes, and leaned over to embrace them both. Zuko looked lost, but carefully put one arm around each girl reassuringly.

Toph sniffed.

“I’m sorry, I just didn’t want to be alone,” she explained into Zuko’s clothes in a small, muffled voice.

Zuko caught Katara’s eyes pleadingly again - he had no clue what to say or do!

“It’s alright Toph, we’re here,” she said gently, shooting Zuko an unimpressed look. “And, it looks like we will be together for a long time if Iroh wants us to go see Aang!” Katara had the usual sinking feeling in her stomach as she said the words, but tried to brush it away and make light of the situation.

Toph took a long, shuddering breath in a bid to calm herself.

“Aang better be fucking happy to see us or I’ll beat his ass in three elements,” grumbled Toph in her usual manner, but there was no force behind her words. They let them ring empty without comment though, choosing not to draw attention to her lack of enthusiasm.

“By the way, _Toph,_ ” started Katara suddenly, “Thanks a bunch for bringing up me and Zuko last night!” She hit Toph’s arm playfully, being rewarded by a weak smile.

“Yeah well things were getting boring.”

“So that’s an adequate time to discuss my love life in front of my brother, my dad and my grangran?” she demanded, feeling an echo of the embarrassment she had suffered last night. Zuko groaned.

“I’d forgotten about that! How will I ever face your family again?!” exclaimed Zuko, leaning his head back in frustration.

“After everything that came out last night I’m not sure how _I’m_ going to face them…”

There was another knock at the door. Zuko grumbled.

“Come in,” he called reluctantly.

Suki all but skipped into the room, looking fresh and bright, followed by a disgruntled Sokka.

“See! I told you they’d be in here,” chided Suki, removing the tea from the bed and climbing onto the end, sitting cross legged facing her friends. With a bit more effort Sokka did the same.

“Suki got bored,” he explained sleepily.

“So, I was talking to Iroh this morning and he said you three have to go see Aang tomorrow! That’s such a shame, we’ve only just arrived…” chatted Suki, obviously at a much higher plane of consciousness than the rest of them.

“To be fair,” started Toph, “We didn’t really know you were coming.”

Suki looked upset.

“But can’t it be delayed even a little bit?”

“Believe me,” said Katara, “if we could in any way avoid it we would. We have no choice.” Suki seemed to sense the finality and honesty in Katara’s voice as she dropped her head in resignation.

“I was wondering see, if maybe, could you guys be there when the little beast is born? I… just want my friends around me you know?” Suki patted her small bulge with a shaking hand. She was obviously terrified.

Katara reached out to pick up Suki’s hand.

“Of course! You’ll need all the help you can get in the first few months… and I don’t trust my big brother,” laughed Katara, indicating Sokka who had fallen asleep again leaning against one of the wooden supports of the four-poster bed. His mouth hung open and a gentle snoring was just starting up.

Toph kicked him so he lost his balance and fell off the bed with a scream and a crash. Everybody laughed.

 

* * *

 

 

The goodbyes made the journey seem easy. The only thing making it manageable was the promise that whatever they were doing it wouldn’t take very long. In truth, they had no idea how long it would take.

They sat around a small table discussing the different ways the meeting with their old friend could go. They had been at sea two days and had been instructed to disembark at the nearest point to the Southern Air Temple where a small convoy with ostrich-horses would escort them to the Temple. It should take about three days from their little evening reunion that night.

“So what does Uncle expect us to do? Magic the Avatar state back?” grumbled Toph, throwing herself backwards so she was lying on the floor talking up at the ceiling. 

“That would take so long!” groaned Zuko. “Why do I always end up in a metal ship chasing the Avatar?” Katara laughed, but Zuko gave her a non-plussed look. Katara sighed.

“I don’t know. I don’t know what they want from us, and what they expect us to do!”

There was an awkward pause as they each abandoned themselves to their own thoughts.

“Katara I think you should try to take away one of our bending,” started Zuko. Katara looked scared.

“But what if I can’t get it back? What if I take away your bending altogether!” Zuko looked down.

“You’re the only one of us who can blood bend with any control right now, and we don’t even know if Aang _can_  take away just one type of bending. What if he regains the Avatar state and has to take away the bending in a way thats completely irreversible?”

Toph sat up.

“He’s right Katara. I’d rather you find out if you can or can’t _before_ we meet Aang - and then we can choose to tell him whatever we want… but its kind of essential…”

Suspense hung in the air as they all considered who would have to be the person Katara would practice on.

Finally, Toph sighed.

“I guess since I’ve learned water bending last, I lose the least if you take that away… right?” She did not look happy with her own words but she knew it was true. She would miss it, but she had sensed how much Zuko was connected with the element already.

“No Toph, if you lose all your bending you won’t be able to see,” pointed out Zuko.

“And if you lose yours you won’t be able to keep a hold on the Fire Nation because your pig-headed subjects still think of power over intelligence,” she replied bitterly.

“But at least I will be able to function! And if we _do_ find a way to get it back then I won’t have lost anything, whereas you will be actually blind for a while.”

“Why does everybody assume I’m this helpless little girl!” Toph was raising her voice as she always did when she was told she couldn’t do something.

“Well if you took away my eyes I would be fucking helpless as well!!” Zuko barked back.

“You can say that again! You’re shit at feeling where things are—“

Katara stood up abruptly, cutting Toph off. “I need time to think,” she announced before storming off out of the room.

 

 

“Sheesh, what’s her problem?” muttered Toph, lying back down.

The two sat in amicable silence for a long while, each lost in their own thoughts. Even though they would occasionally argue or have these little outbursts, they were now old enough to know that the stimulus was fear, and they forgave one another instantly.

“So, what’s going to happen with you and Sweetness?” asked Toph into the silence.

“I don’t know what you mean,” replied Zuko, in a pathetic attempt to avoid the question.

“Come on Sparky, everybody can see that you two are hopelessly in love!” probed Toph, attempting to draw a reaction from the Fire Prince.

“Look, its none of your business, alright?”

“Well kinda is - I’m third wheeling this relationship so I want to know what kind of a relationship it is. Is it an only-physical thing? Since you haven’t slept with her I’m thinking not. Although you guys might simply be good at other stuff… Or maybe its a ‘I’m really fucking bored’ relationship… but then again we are tackling one of the biggest discoveries ever and you are running a nation so maybe not. Or maybe you are both just lonely. That could be it. But the annoying way your hearts start beating whenever you touch says otherwise. So if it _is_ love, what are you going to do about it? You going to marry her? Would the Fire Nation even accept that? I guess it would be tactical at least - uniting the Nations and all that… But I’m not sure your pigheaded subjects will appreciate… then again you will be Fire Lord so its not like they have much say…”

“Toph?”

“Yes Sparky?”

“Shut the fuck up.”

 

* * *

 

 

Katara had taken refuge on deck. It had started to rain - not very hard, just a drizzle. She felt incredibly alive surrounded by her element - for however much she loved and would come to love fire and earth, water was more hers than anything else.

Her heart hammered painfully in her chest.

They were right - both of them. Toph needed her bending to be able to… well… be Toph. And Zuko needed his to be Fire Lord. Both would suffer incredibly without their elements.

She, however… she had nothing but love for hers. It wasn’t like she wouldn’t be able to see without her bending, nor would she lose any position she held because, well, she honestly didn’t have any position to keep. She was the least important and of the three of them.

Tears streamed down her cheeks as she sat on the wet iron deck, breathing in the rain and sea spray. Slowly she let her awareness look inside and followed her familiar pathways to her extremities and back. She let herself be pulled by the chi flow and observed how its circuit made its way around her heart and torso, down to her fingertips for water, how it pooled around her stomach for fire, and how it spread through her legs and feet for earth.

This shouldn’t be difficult.

It couldn’t be difficult!

It was so easy to give herself the elements, surely removing them was exactly the reverse?

It would have to be earth.

Slowly, careful not to make any sudden moves, she started blood bending around the pathways in her feet. She moved the chi inch by inch further away from her feet, making sure to restore the blood flow to its normal position after every nudge. The chi followed, just as she had expected.

When she reached the familiar water-and-fire circuit, she stopped.

Katara trembled as she opened her eyes and tried to harness the rain into a stream of water.

It responded immediately.

She then fixed on a chain on the deck, shielding the view from the cabins with her body. She needed to know if she had successfully removed earth bending - and since there was no earth, she would have to metal bend. Which, to be honest, was lucky since she found metal much easier than earth.

But nothing.

She couldn’t even feel the chain there, it was just emptiness in front of her.

Right, now to restore.

The excitement of her discovery made it difficult to once again reach the meditative calm she needed to focus on her blood flow.

There. Just like she had done one morning not so long ago, she pushed and expanded her chi flow. Pushing was much easier than pulling back, she decided.

This time the chain melted at her command and reformed differently. She carefully recreated the chain as it was and sat, playing with the rain in utter relief. She had never loved her element so much as now when she could have lost everything.

 

“Katara,” called Zuko, having just emerged from the main cabin. He had to resist the temptation to shield himself from the rain using water bending, and instead tried to embrace it all around him. No matter how much he came to love water, fire would always be his - and fire burned better when it was dry.

She was sitting on the deck with a smile plastered on her face. This puzzled him.

“Zuko!” she cried running towards him and jumping into his arms. This also puzzled him. His senses pricked up in uneasiness. Katara was affectionate, but not in such a flamboyant manner. Usually.

“What’s happened? Is something wrong? Or… is something not wrong?” He was confused. Why was he uneasy that she was suddenly inexplicably happy?

“Zuko! I did it! I took away my earth bending and then got it back!! That’s it, I don’t need to risk either of you, we know its doable now!” She was quite literally jumping up and down, but the smile wiped off of Zuko’s face.

“You did what?” he growled.

Katara stopped and frowned. Her eyes narrowed at Zuko and she crossed her arms.

“I solved a problem,” she stated, daring him to disagree.

“You put yourself in danger! What is wrong with you Katara?! If you’d lost your bending we would have all been lost! There is a _reason_ Toph and I didn’t consider you a candidate! What, you think we’re stupid or something?” He was clenching and unclenching his fists angrily.

“I didn’t think you were stupid, but now I definitely do. Its quite simple; I am the least important of the three _and_ I’m the one who caused this whole mess - obviously I would be the one to experiment on!” She was angry, but Zuko didn’t care - he was angry too.

“The least imp—— You’re impossible! And blinder than… than… a fucking badgermole! I can’t believe —“ He was cut off by a ball of water hitting him square on in the face.

“I just risked my bending for you guys, at least show some gratitude!” she cried at him, taking up a water bending stance.

“You want to fight this out?” he half-shouted in her direction. It was more of a dare than a question.

“What, you scared I will beat you again?” she retaliated, not breaking her stance.

“Ha! Alright, lets do this.” He tore off his top leaving him in his comfy bottoms. He lowered himself and spread his feet into his familiar fire bending stance.

It was an unsaid rule that they could only use their native elements - a fight like this was bound to grab the attention of the crew eventually, and any accidental spectators could not be tolerated.

Katara smirked when Zuko responded to her threat, a mischievous twinkle in her eye. She _was_ angry, but more than anything else she wanted to water bend - properly. Not little, tame tricks, she wanted to _feel_ her element. Fighting Zuko was guaranteed to push her to use it well.

 

Neither were sure who started the battle, but it raged in a cloud of hissing steam - fire meeting water furiously on board the ship. Both could sense what the other was doing and it seemed impossible that one could break through.

At one point Zuko changed tactic and shot small balls of fire in order to surround Katara, and was preparing to finish his fiery circle when she span, lifting her arms up and summoning two great waves from the sea at her sides, which extinguished the fires immediately. She drained these back to the sea as soon as she was safe, but could not stop the awkward rocking of the ship it had created.

Zuko stumbled slightly in attempting to regain his balance, thankful that nothing unexpected happened under his feet. That gave him an idea though.

He changed tactic again - this time not to break through her defences but to attack just enough in one direction so that the obvious move would be to step backwards. He continued this, adjusting his position and making it look as if he were trying to tire her out - in reality she was moving closer and closer to a chain left on deck.

Time to move in. He advanced very suddenly, she took one last step back as he blasted her, and he ankle caught on the chain. She fell backwards, bracing herself and already calculating how to recover as she fell - but Zuko had been expecting this. He leapt the remaining distance and threw himself on top of her so that his knees were either side of her hips and his hands trapped her wrists to the floor.

He smirked.

In all her ability as a Master Bender, she was still physically weaker than him.

Of course she could have always blood-bended his hands away with a move of a finger, but both seemed to resign themselves to the fact, in the midst of their heavy breathing, that the fight was over.

 

Their eyes locked, passion burning behind both gold and blue.

“I hate you,” whispered Katara, telling Zuko the exact opposite. He felt a slight pressure on the back of his neck and realised she was blood bending him to pull him closer - but not enough to overcome his will, just a hint.

He complied, smiling, and kissed her, both soaked to the bone on the deck of a Fire Nation ship. Toph’s questions came back to him in that moment. What would he do?

He didn’t care. He just didn’t care about the future, about his nation or advisors, about family or friends. Only Katara, here and now.

He stopped her up, letting her fasten her hands around his neck, and carried her inside to privacy.

 

 


	14. Murder

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At Iroh’s request, Toph, Zuko and Katara journey to the Southern Air Temple to talk to Aang. Before they can properly explain themselves, odd behaviour from Aang and the a blood curdling scream from the temple launches the trio headfirst into something not quite right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N Sorry sorry sorry so much lateness to be sorry for! But I love this fic and I will continue writing it no matter what! As always all comments welcome!!!

**Chapter 14: Murder**

 

Toph, usually the one hanging behind and telling everybody to calm down, drove the trio as fast as she could towards the air temple after making birth. Katara and Zuko were insufferable. They were in some sort of honeymoon phase that was sickening, and, quite frankly, probably quite detrimental to their health judging by the incessant heart-beat-skipping and breath-holding going on. During the night Toph demanded to be left to fall asleep first so that she would not have to be privy to the night time activities of the two.

Not that they pushed it in her face at all. Actually they were being quite considerate in the circumstances, but Toph was just a little bitter that she was alone and so unconsciously honed into their flirtatiousness. 

The guards were also very boring. Iroh made sure that the escort did not seem like an imprisonment, but had placed one of the three guards at a much higher level with instructions to send him updates daily. They were nothing in comparison with what the three of them could do, but were told that they were there in case of any trouble anyway, and in order to set up camp for the Fire Prince when they stopped. Unfortunately none seemed to have any exciting conversation to entertain Toph. In fact she thought that Iroh could  not have chosen any more positively dull companions for them if he had tried. And Toph was pretty certain that he _had_ tried. An exciting group of six gaily riding ostrich horses towards the Southern Air Temple was bound to be noticed by _someone_ , but a group of bored, quiet travellers could pass unobserved for miles.

So Toph had no choice but to grit her teeth and endure. She didn’t even have the stimulation of continuing water and fire bending - obviously it was secretly outlawed in their journey. After a full, very boring day of ostrich-horse riding though, she decided to immerse herself in the two new elements in a purely passive manner. Everybody else could bloody well see what was going on, but without her feet on the ground the only thing she could sense was the panting of the ostrich-horse. And that got incredibly repetitive. It crossed Toph’s mind that she could probably withstand most torture, but if somebody really wanted something from here they could easily bore her to submission.

Sinking into a semi-meditative state was not easy while riding an animal. Not being able to see or sense the terrain ahead meant that Toph had no prior warning when they had to pass over a rock or head up a hill or start a descent - just the jolting of the blasted beast she was sitting on. It made her uncomfortable and very alert. Eventually, towards the middle of the second day’s ride, she was letting herself trust the stupid animal and not get startled by its every shift in weight. 

Slowly, she let her consciousness expand to sense the water and heat around her. That which struck her most strongly was the animal, though. She was in full contact with it and her body rocked with its step. Eventually she just chose to focus on it. 

There was such a great source of heat coming from it in comparison to the air around it. And, she realised, herself too. When she concentrated on water, she found similar patterns - much more from her and the animal than anywhere in their immediate vicinity. She followed the water and seemed to sense small streams and waterfalls, great gushes and rapids coming from inside the beast. Initially, these shocked her, but she realised that these must be the blood-ways Katara spoke about. 

She didn’t dare exert any bending on any of them - even without the guards she was in such confusion as to what-went-where that she could not guarantee not killing the animal. It was fascinating though. She could feel smaller streams connecting to larger rivers - not even the lack of earth managed to jog her from her deep observance of these life-rivers.

Before she knew it, the others were calling her to make camp; the ostrich horses stopped and tied up so she could descend. Tomorrow they would finally leave their guard and arrive at the Southern Air Temple to face their old friend. But none of that mattered much. She knew Zuko and Katara would be sleepless in anticipation tonight, but she was too calm and lost in the waterways that surrounded her to care. Just let him try to take away her water bending. She would show him….

 

* * *

 

 

Morning dawned and the trio thanked their guards, gave them a tip and assured them they would be fine from here on in. As they scaled the slope up to the Southern Air Temple, though, not even Toph’s contemplation of water could drone out the eerie silence that had fallen on the group. Each remembered the last time they were all together and could not help an internal grimace. Katara was very quiet.

“Maybe I should stay back?” she ventured after an hour or so.

Toph snorted. 

“Yeah maybe you should just go home,” she retorted. 

Katara didn’t reply. Toph sighed.

“I was joking. It was a joke. You know… haha…”

“Oh.”

“Look Katara, you know what isn’t your fault? That Aang couldn’t deal with rejection. You know what is your fault? The fact that we can all bend three elements. So you better face up to that and Aang can face up to things that are his fault. Seesh you’d think I wouldn’t have to spell it out for you!”

Katara managed a small smile.

“Thank you Toph.”

 

They continued in silence until the familiar sight of the Southern Air Temple crept into their view. Toph stopped short. 

“We’ve been spotted,” she murmured, before continuing more slowly. 

Something was strange. This was not the lively Southern Air Temple that Aang had envisioned when he started out: he had planned to collect all the orphans of war and bring them to the air temples to create an air-nomadic-style culture of peace and mediations, and in order to repair what war had done to his homes. In doing so the plan was to recover any surviving manuscripts, document the treasures of the past so that they could not be lost again.

Within all this Aang had poured his own boyish joy and fondness of games. He had planned to have compulsory games sessions every afternoon and wanted to teach each child their element (if they could bend one) so that they could play some more. 

However, this vibrant, fun atmosphere that was supposed to exude from the temple was not present. More, it gave the opposite feeling; not one of welcomed friends and peace but one of a fortress where they could feel hidden eyes watching them. From when the temple came into view there was an uneasiness in the air that none could shake. Even the trees seemed to cling onto the rocks for dear life. 

It was as if war had survived here when it had died elsewhere.

 

As they drew closer they noted a bridge had been built for non-air benders to cross the crevasse which surrounded the temple, but it was empty and the resolute sound of a very hevy wooden door closing with a dull thump rosounded across the canyon. 

One solitary orange figure sped towards them boosted by successive blasts of air. 

“Twinkletoes.”

“The Avatar.”

“Aang.”

* * *

 

He stopped a careful distance away from them and they all regarded one another silently.

Toph cracked a smile and leaped the distance between them to pull him into a forced embrace. Although he did not reciprocate, Katara saw tears welling in his big eyes and he didn’t push her away.

Toph disentangled herself and gave him a punch on the shoulder.

“That is for being all ‘oooh I’m the Avatar and I’m going to be so mysterious and hermit-y all of the time’! Fucking hell twinkletoes, where has all the fun gone?!” 

For a moment, just one moment, perhaps a split second that could be mistaken for some fanciful imaginative process, it looked as if he were going to say something heartfelt.

But when he opened his mouth he schooled his face to a stoney impasse and merely greeted them:

“Earth Master Toph BeiFong, Water Master Katara of the Southern Water Tribe, Fire Master Fire-Prince Zuko,” with a little bow to each. Toph raised her eyebrows in disbelief.

“Aang,” started Katara, “we need to talk to you about…”

Aang held up his hand to stop her.

“It does not matter what you have come to talk to me about, I do not wish to talk. Furthermore I need to ask you all to leave immediately.” His voice was emotionless. Katara was reminded of his attitude during their crossing of the serpent’s pass where he had lost all faith in himself and everybody around him. It took a breakdown at the end of the joinery to return to his usual self. 

Toph huffed.

“Look at me in the face and say that you don’t want to talk to us!” she snarled, sure that she would detect a lie.

“I do not want to talk to you and I want you all to leave,” Aang said in his deadpan voice.

Toph’s angry face fell to sadness. There was no lie in his words. 

Aang crossed his arms in a very un-Aang-like gesture. 

Zuko’s head swung upwards as he caught sight of another movement beyond the bridge. A large white thing was flying towards them.

“Appa!” he cried, as the flying bison drew closer.

He landed with an earth-shaking thud and lay down with a friendly roar. Katara squeaked and Zuko laughed as they threw themselves on Appa.

There was a deep gargle coming from Appa’s belly which the group knew to be laughter of sorts. 

Toph had stood oddly still for a few seconds, but then let go into laughter and threw herself onto Appa’s belly which had promptly been exposed to the attentions of his old friends. 

Zuko was the first to recover his excitement and he left the two girls to faun over Appa and went to stand next to Aang. Not too close, but enough to be amicable. 

“Suki’s pregnant,” he said. Aang had been in minimal contact with their world, so maybe he wouldn’t know what had been happening. Aang gave a small nod. 

 _Toph is depressed,_ thought Zuko, _Ty Lee and Mai have split up, I’ve fallen for Katara, Katara has been raped and figured out how to blood bend us all, we’ve spoken to Yue and started uncovering the very nature of bending…._ But those weren’t things he could casually drop into this one sided conversation. 

Aang took a deep breath. 

“Is she… alright?” he asked quietly. Zuko wasn’t sure who exactly Aang meant but he chose to understand Suki.

“She’ll be fine, she has Sokka to look after her,” he said lightly. The corners of Aang’s lips twitched sightly at the thought of Sokka looking after a very hormonal Suki.

“And how’s ———“ Aang was cut off by a blood curdling scream resounding from the temple. It was faint but unmistakably the cry of s child. The blood ran from Aang’s face so quickly that Zuko took a step towards him in case he fainted.

Aang pushed him away forcefully and whistled to Appa, who turned over, gave the girls one last slobbery lick and jumped into the air.

“I TOLD YOU TO LEAVE,” cried Aang angrily before jumping up onto Appa. 

* * *

 

“What the fuck was that?!” Cried katara in frustration. There was something she just wasn’t understanding about all of this! 

“Something strange is happening here,” muttered Zuko, furrowing his good eyebrow.

Toph turned to them.

“When Appa landed he shook the ground and I could have sworn… I’m sure… I felt people running away. Somebody was listening… I don’t know though… I don’t really understand,” whispered Toph. 

“What do we do?” Asked Katara, worried that they had stumbled on something altogether more sinister than what they had arrived to discuss.

“Well I’m not leaving. Fuck that! Even if Aang doesn’t want us, Appa does. You with me?” Asked Toph, suddenly taking charge. She stamped on the rock, causing a rectangular piece to detach itself slightly from the ground. Zuko and Katara exchanged a glance and jumped on, allowing Toph to speed them towards the temple and crash through the doors.

“Subtle,” muttered Zuko.

“Not my style,” retorted Toph.

When the dust and the splintered door settled, they looked around. True, the temple had been restored somewhat - at least it didn’t look like it was going to collapse. There was the sound of a crowd of people from somewhere, but thanks to the strange air tunnels and acoustics they would need to figure out where based on something other than their ears. 

Katara squealed as something white and furry smacked into her.

“MOMO!” she cried, tears welling in her eyes. Mom chattered in her ear but was trying to pull her urgently in one direction. 

“What is it Momo? Show us what is going on,” she said slowly, remembering the complete failure that sending Momo in search of water resulted in. 

 

Momo ran, leaping off the walls and chattering all the while. He would turn to make sure the trio were still following. At one point he climbed up a very narrow shaft - obviously one commonly used when air benders could lift themselves off the ground easily. Instead Toph just stamped her foot and they leaped into the air on a piece of stone which, once they had stepped off into another passage, fell back into its place with a thud. 

Rounding another corner, they were affronted by the backs of a crowd of people… relatively short people… children!

Zuko, the tallest, managed to look over everybody’s heads and could see Aang trying to move people away from somebody or something on the floor.

“I think someone is injured,” he said, unsure of his words. 

“Katara, you’re on!” said Toph, pushing her forwards. Katara exchanged a glance and an almost imperceptible nod with Zuko and started pushing through the crowd with Momo on her shoulder. 

“Make way! I’m a healer! Mind out the way! MOVE!!!” she cried, trying not to harm anybody as she wove her way around bodies. She felt like she was making no progress at all though.

In frustration, she uncorked her water pouch which hung, as usual, from her hips, and created an ice way under her feet, skirting above the heads of the crowd and landing neatly in the gap where Aang was bent over somebody.

At first Aang stood protectively in front of whoever it was, his glider held in both hands in front of him.

Katara’s face contorted into anger at that.

“MOVE AANG! This is not about you or me! Stop being so damned selfish!” she shouted, pushing past him and falling to the ground next to a small child. She needed to calm down to concentrate, but Aang’s defeated worry assured her that she would not be disturbed by him. As she sank into an mediative state and coated her hands in water, she heard Aang continue ushering the other spectators to a different part of the temple in the distance. Now, to work.

* * *

 

As soon as Katara and Momo headed off, Toph and Zuko exchanged a few words and split off too. Zuko became the shadows, inhabited the dark places just below the ceilings of passages, behind statues, under ledges - the blue spirit reborn. Toph meanwhile, relished the clarity stone gave her, and she continually praised the air benders for building their temples the way they did. She could not trust her ears but she could trust her feet, and she made an effort to keep any warm or wet fluctuations within her attention. Silently, she navigated the complicated wind tunnels, making sure nobody noticed her passing. Both were on a scouting mission: something was up with Aang, and something was up with this temple. Neither liked it and neither were about to leave as ignorant as when they arrived. 

 

* * *

 

The heat of the sun was fading from her shoulders and there was a great silence surrounding her when Katara finally sat back on her heels. She didn’t open her eyes yet, she had to think!

Her patient was a child that had been obviously thrown off a very tall height. She thought thrown because there seemed to be evidence of bruises coming up from underneath the skin on the arms, but she could be wrong. Whoever was responsible did not mean for the child to survive, and if it wasn’t for her intervention the he would have already been dead. She had never treated something like this before - it seemed that every single organ was in trauma, the brain unresponsive, the bones shattered. She had to keep the heart going in order to re-establish the bloodways, but at the same time make sure it clotted rather than drowning out the organs. The body simply did not have enough healing to deal with everything! And her water healing, her blood bending couldn’t magic up something that wasn’t there! Healing was to do with redirecting, guiding, helping… She felt truly helpless.

Opening her tearful eyes she took in the setting sun and the empty courtyard, a small fountain happily gurgling away in a corner. Without thinking she drew water from it to drink, and gave some to the child too, guiding it into his body in the correct way. 

She noticed Aang, sitting cross legged and white faced on the opposite side of the courtyard. She gave him a look which screamed _I’m trying, but I don’t think I can save him_. She hoped he understood.

“Do whatever you can,” came his voice, as tired as his true age might suggest.

She took a deep breath and dived back in.

 

* * *

 

Zuko was thankful for the setting sun - the shadows became longer and he could remain more hidden than ever. He chose a small alcove behind a statue of a monk looking down on a small-ish hall. People used it to get to various other places, and since he wasn’t sure who or what he was looking for he decided to stay put in observation. Sound carried up here so he could hear snatches of conversation of everybody who passed.

Mostly there were children - of varying ages and hair colours, which were the only physical features he could distinguish from his limited view. They were talking excitedly about the fall that little Yan had taken - they had various theories of him playing on the highest tier of the temple and falling off all the way to him thinking he could air bend and jumping off. They seemed to be going to various dorms or classes. 

Some older adults walked briskly with clacking sandals on the stone - probably teachers or instructors by the way they shooed and hurried the children along. There was a tenseness about them that didn’t quite match up with Aang’s great visions, but he doubted any one of them could hold the answer.

Then, he noticed another person. Nondescript, could be man or woman from where he sat, but they were different. They were cleaning so could keep out of the way, but they were making absolutely no sound whatsoever. They had been taught to walk silently, to breathe steadily, to melt into the background. This is what Zuko was looking for.

His eyes narrowed as he observed, his body tensing and stilling. If they knew how to remain unobserved they would also know how to observe, and the last thing he wanted was to be found by his prey. 

 

* * *

 

Toph followed the long corridors until she found a whole area of the temple which was surrounded by water. The humm and crash of the water falling around this part meant that she could not be heard, putting her at an advantage since she could still feel with her feet who was passing. She found her way up to a higher floor where nobody was passing and concentrated, both hands and both feet on the ground, to ‘listen’ to what was going on. 

There weren’t many children passing this way, nor any of their … carers? Teachers?… but every so often she would sense at the very edge of her concentration light feet like the ones she had felt when Appa landed outside the temple. She would shift towards them, find another place on her floor to listen and shift towards them more. Each one she followed in this way would lead her to the same area, but she had to keep climbing to keep a floor above them at all times. 

Here there was something strange about the structure of the temple; there seemed to be new walls in place, but not as a patch up, simply randomly placed walls. She felt carefully around them but they were smooth as ice. She pressed herself up against them but they wouldn’t move. She was tempted to bend through them but the temple’s acoustics were so unpredictable that it would probably give away her position… and yet it was just hollow behind these strange walls…

Ah. 

Somebody didn’t want to be heard. They must have blocked off some wind tunnels so that there was a place to talk privately.

Toph tried with all her might to listen through the walls - to pick up the vibrations in the stone and recompose them into words, but it was too soft to do so. Fine, she would have to follow the hollow walls and find where the entrance was.

 

* * *

 

Katara had never concentrated so hard in her life. She had stopped being careful about pretending to waterbend and was blatantly blood bending by not coating her hands in water. She tried to understand the body like never before - not just the blood ways, not just chi, but the temperatures of the body, the makeup of the body. She continually had to enter herself to compare what health felt like. 

Bits were cold in him that were warm in her, so she fire bent them warmer. Likewise she took away heat from the feverish brain. 

The blood, she realised, was like metal… or partly metal at least. But she could metal bend! She could clump it in places so it stayed on its own, and she could thin it in others where it blocked the life flow. She warmed and kept the blood circulating in the freezing fingers and toes, managed to hold together the shattered parts of bone with the metallic blood, realign tendons, push blood up and out of the lungs. She didn’t know if the brain had been damaged or by how much - at least the skull hadn’t shattered in the fall, but in terms of knocks and psychological trauma it might refuse to work. 

When the body had started breathing on its own again, she tried to focus on the brain. There was something missing!

What happened usually? There would be some movement or sensation in the body and this would send a signal to the brain, and the brain would register the signals, but she knew there were no signals in this brain! What were the signals though? How could she make them? She tried to pinch herself and follow what was happening in her timeless meditation.

It was quick. Too quick even for her deep concentration. It was like a spark. 

A spark.

But what was a spark?

It was like… lightning, but in miniature. Did that happen in the brain too? It must do. She could not follow what was happening in her brain, it was too complex and it was observing itself, but she could guess that all the lightning signals would then meet in the brain….

But lightening burned and killed! It wouldn’t work. 

An image of Zuko playing with lightening flashed in her mind. He didn’t really make lightning very often - usually he spent a long time playing with the mini lightnings between his palms, and it was only when he directed and combined it that it became dangerous.

But could she create lightning? She didn’t need to, she just needed to create the small, weak versions…

The boy’s heart started failing again and she knew that if she couldn’t get the brain to kick into gear there would be no point continually keeping him alive artificially.

She swallowed and pictured the calm of the fire sages at ka’bei. She remembered the sensation of her hair standing on end when Zuko played with lightning, saw the oscillating flashes behind her eyes. She knew that she couldn’t increase the heat between her palms gradually or that would cause the boy’s head to burst into flames - it had to be a sudden increase in energy in a very thin space. 

Katara spent a long time with her hands either side of the little boy’s head, gathering the courage to try.

She failed the first few times, but thankfully miserably enough so there was no added heat at all. 

Then something sparked in one of her palms - a sharp but painless heat, power bouncing around her body. It was like fire bending in preciseness. She couldn’t let it build up too much and as she exhaled she let the sparks fly from one hand to the other, though the child’s brain…. But it didn’t quite reach her other hand.

She observed.

The sparks were bounding around his brain - the blood was being directed - the muscles started contracting - the body went into a small spasm… she grit her teeth and soothed the muscles that had tensed, kept the organs pumping and in a moment things had calmed down. They weren’t normal. Normal was a big word, too much to ask for, but there was activity. Lots of mini lightning jumping around the body and the brain, so bright in her consciousness now that she couldn’t miss them! The randomness of the initial sparks in the brain seemed to form patterns or clump in certain areas. He was breathing normally, his heart beat in its own, a small moan escaped his lips…

Katara extracted her consciousness from his body. There was nothing more she could do. She lay down next to him and collapsed into a very deep and strange dream.


	15. The Silence of the Stones

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katara has a strange dream which propels her back into real life; a secret accidentally revealed, a mystery that refuses to be clear, and the trio seek help from the King of Omashu.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Am trying to stick to a very tight production schedule now – its about to get exciting!!!

Katara was surrounded by her element, swirling blue on all sides, but she didn’t have any trouble breathing. It was as if she had become truly one with the water around her; it gave her life and sustained her being and allowed her to fill her lungs with it, pass through her, pass around her, her skin felt no boundary with the water as she moved suspended effortlessly. Beside her were other beings… she thought about who they might be and she instantly moved towards them.

She recognised them instantly - Tui and La. They swam with her in an endless circle, letting the water become a part of them and returning to it the power it gave them. She joined them in their dance, taking pleasure in every watery breath. She closed her eyes to focus on the power of the water as it swirled swirled swirled round and round and round…

But suddenly she realised it was not the coolness of water that caressed her skin, but the unmistakable warmth of fire. It did not burn though, just like the water did not drown her, but it excited every fibre in her being. Soon her core seemed to be as sharp as the flames licking upwards all around her - it was inside her,  it was part of her! Smoke left her mouth as she exhaled in a sweet, smooth puff, just as she was surrounded by responding smoke.

Two beings flew around her through the flames - supported by the flames. They were huge, and considered her with intelligent, understanding eyes as they followed one another up and down in a vertical series of circles, perfectly synchronised like a dance of fire. She watched and followed, realising that the moves were those of the flames that they revelled in. These must be the two dragons protected by the sun civilisation, she thought.

The crackling and licking of the flames started fading, as the dragons moved away from her, leaving her suddenly full of weight. They seemed to call back to her, call her to follow them, but she could not. Her feet were rooted to the ground, and this itself teemed with raw energy. She felt herself relax and become engulfed by the cool earth, by the rock surrounding that managed to mould itself to her exact shape. There was no need for eyes here - when she was in this much contact with the earth she could feel the imprint of everything around her. She wasn’t trapped, she was given a sight greater than any other.

In the distance there was a great rumbling and she could feel the earth parting and reforming seamlessly for something that moved as one rather than in opposition to the earth. Another approached from the other side of her and they criss crossed around her, masking all sense of ‘up’ and ‘down’, just inviting her to follow their playful chase. Ah, joining the badger moles! She found she had only to consider the idea and she was moving as quickly as they were, following the ancient cracks in the rocks, exploring their natural structure, falling up and plummeting down again and again….

But suddenly the cool rock became harder to find, and her direction of travel didn’t feel any different to where she just came. There was a cool breeze on her face and her lungs filled with blissful fresh air. She opened her eyes and found herself passing clouds on air currents, being able to feel warm air holding her up. She let giddy with the new sensation, laughed aloud. This attracted the attention of two sky bison who had been cunningly disguised as clouds. She flew around her, and let her fall onto their back where she bristled like their fir in the wind.

One doubled back and started licking her in appreciation. She laughed and cried out to stop it!!

 

“Appa, leave her alone,” came Aang’s voice from somewhere very distant to her. Aang? Aang was here? But he was on the ground… in the temple… she had also been on the ground in the temple…

 

Katara opened her eyes to find a very wet pink thing dripping on her. There came a growl and the pink thing covered her entirely in wet, slightly sticky stuff before she realised that she was looking at Appa’s enormous tongue. A giggle emerged from her.

“Appa!” she croaked. Her throat was so dry! She tried to move but every muscle in her body ached. She groaned to herself and appreciated the fading memory of her effortless travel, her connection with all the elements that had seemed so… so… _real_ in her dream. She wished she could go back to it.

Suddenly there were strong hands propping her upright, and a cup was tentatively touching her lips. Without even thinking she drank deeply, feeling the water deliver her from exhaustion slightly.

She opened her eyes to find Zuko regarding her worriedly.

He didn’t need to be worried!

“The boy lived,” she told him with a small smile, but that did not ease the worry in his golden eyes.

“Are you alright Katara?” he asked, searching her face for some confirmation that she hadn’t killed herself while saving the boy.

Was she alright? She considered. She had used up all her energy and concentration in her healing… she had created lightning! Well… not really… small lightning. She was vaguely aware of a deep hunger….

AANG! Aang had been there when she was healing. The thought knocked the breath from her lungs and she struggled free of Zuko’s hold to turn towards Aang who was still sitting in an identical position to when she must have passed out; cross legged on the floor halfway across the courtyard. He must have seen. He must know.

“I don’t know how you did that,” he said slowly, putting the weight of something hidden on his words.

“She is a good healer,” replied Toph, tense, as carefully as Aang.

Katara’s brows furrowed and she looked enquiringly at Zuko. He half shook his head in a small gesture, staring hard as if trying to communicate something.

“Well now she has done her work and she’s awake you can all leave,” said Aang monotonously, although his eyes filled with tears that cried out for help.

“Believe me, I don’t want to stay here any longer,” said Zuko forcefully, the words hollow.

What was this? It seemed to Katara that it was a rehearsed conversation. Her head hurt and she didn’t understand what was happening! She felt tears spring to her eyes in frustration, and she angrily wiped them away.

“If we leave, we are taking the boy!” she growled. She was stroppy. She needed something to hold on to and right now her job was to heal - she needed to follow the healing of the child and she did not want to leave him here where she could not shake the feeling that he was purposefully pushed off the high point of the temple. If she left him here then he might not survive.

“No,” said Aang, biting his lip.

“Yes. He needs me to cure him. Either he comes with us, or we stay here,” she insisted stubbornly.

“Fine. Take him,” Aang conceded, burying his face in his hands.

There was a silence, when they all thought about exactly how they were meant to leave with a weak Katara and a child. Katara tried to stand, and she wobbled without Zuko’s help to keep her upright.

Appa, who was sitting near her, nuzzled her so she wouldn’t fall, and she thankfully used him for support.

“We need Appa,” stated Toph aggressively.

“There is no way we can make it away from here with any speed without transport,” added Zuko in his I’m-The-Fire-Prince voice, looking at Aang hard.

“FINE,” cried Aang, jumping to his feet. “FINE! TAKE APPA! GET AS FAR AWAY AS YOU CAN AND SEND HIM BACK! I DON’T CARE, JUST LEAVE!!!!!!” He screamed, throwing his glider to the ground and leaving the courtyard. They heard him order somebody to collect the boy and somebody else to saddle up Appa, before they were left in silence.

“What is going on?” asked Katara, still very hazy and confused.

“Aang doesn’t want us here Katara,” said Zuko slowly, which really did not answer anything for her.

“Look we came to try to reconcile with him, and he doesn’t want to, alright? What’s there not to understand!! That’s it, we’re done, he can go fuck himself for all I care,” said Toph angrily and just slightly too loudly. Katara took the cue to stay silent, and soon they were surrounded by quiet people saddling up Appa, giving them some bread and water, and putting a soundly sleeping child on the saddle. Within a half hour they were set to fly.

Aang was nowhere to be seen - he had not even come to retrieve his glider from the courtyard, or see them off. Appa did not find this distressing at all, and kicked up into the air as soon as he felt his cohort on his back.

“Where are we going?” asked Toph, holding onto the the saddle for dear life out of habit.

“Omashu,” said Katara. “The boy is an earth bender, and I think we can stay with Bumi while we send a message to the Fire Nation…”

Zuko nodded, and crawled to the front of the saddle to try to communicate to Appa where he was meant to go. The hoped that the rumble from his throat and a slight change of direction meant he had understood and would take them west to the city of Omashu.

 

* * *

 

 

It didn’t take too long, but Toph and Katara joined the boy in sleep, leaving Zuko to mull things over in his mind. He, out of all of them, had spent less time with Bumi, and was always on edge as to how much Toph and Katara intended to share with him…

Appa seemed to shudder beneath him, and they started circling downwards, though the wet clouds, towards the stunning city of Omashu. Zuko had never been able to appreciate it from this perspective - growing closer and closer to the pinnacle, the top of the city that seemed to reach the sky from the ground was growing closer at an alarming rate.

They levelled out a little and soon Zuko found the very top of the city at the centre of their little circling. Two men in Earth Kingdom uniforms stood on a platform that stuck out from the edge, impossibly stable in a way only earth benders could create with their subtle creations. The two men recognised the flying bison and stood on the sides of the platform, allowing them to land. The jolt awoke Toph and Katara, who realised they had arrived and jumped down immediately. Toph spread her toes out on the cold rock, her face tense in concentration. After a few seconds a smile lit up her face and she stamped her foot. In a distant part of the palace there was a rumble, followed shortly by a piercing manic laugh that could only have been Bumi. The rock seemed to split apart somewhere lower down, and a pillar of rock grew with impossible speed until he stood level with them. Calmly, he stepped off of his improvised platform, and with a stamp of his foot it disappeared where it had come from.

“HELLO FRIENDS!” cried Bumi, grinning. “Hello Appa! You’re going to be wanting some food!” Appa groaned in assent and lay down with a rumble, his intelligent eyes flicking from one person to another. Bumi nodded at one of the guards who bowed and scurried away to locate some food for the sky bison.

“And who is this?” Asked Bumi, indicating the child Zuko held in his arms.

“This is Yan,” said Zuko.

“He’s an Earth Bender and he was hurt - he is still recovering…” added Katara.

“Hmmmmmmm. When you’re hurt don’t call the herse, what we need is a nurse!” chanted Bumi, clicking his fingers. Somehow this prompted the other guard to step forward and carefully take the boy from Zuko’s arms.

“Where is he going?” asked Katara worriedly. She was still feeling very weak - standing up on ceremony like this was tiring and she wasn’t thinking straight.

“Where do the nurses go when they nurse those who need nursing? The nursery?? NO! The infirmary! Where is the infirmary? Where the infirms can marry… infirmmarry!” cackled Bumi. Toph sighed.

“Its on one of the bottom floors Katara, they will look after him,” she explained, understanding that Bumi’s riddles and rhymes were misplaced right now. Toph turned to Bumi. “We need to talk. But privately,” she said.

Bumi twisted a foot on the floor of the platform and it seemed to shrink in diameter and the sides rose around them until they were enclosed in a dome of rock. Instinctively, Zuko produced a flame to see by, and held it on the palm of his hand as a makeshift candle.

“Woah!” exclaimed Toph. “I always forget that fire produces light - whatever light is!” Bumi giggled.

“What is it that is troubling you little ones? And where is Avatar Aang?” They were all silent for a moment, considering where to start and how much to say. They reverie was interrupted only by Appa’s impossibly loud snores.

“We went to see Aang,” started Zuko, “and he was being very strange. He didn’t want to see us at all…”

“Yeah, it was weird, and we were a while away from the temple… anyway then there was this scream and Aang got angry with us and flew back…” added Toph.

“We followed and found that Yan had fallen from the top of the temple so I tried to heal him even if it was difficult,” explained Katara.

“Meanwhile Toph and I wondered the temple to try to find out what was making Aang so angry and strange, and we both ended up shadowing some strange people who were silent and had changed the temple layout so you couldn’t hear what they said…”

“They were everywhere! Listening and following people around. And they all disappeared into this one bit of the temple where we couldn’t hear anything, and when they came out they all circled the courtyard where Katara was curing Yan. They were listening and they were being ready to do something… but I don’t know what…” Toph looked troubled.

Katara understood finally. They were being careful at the temple because there were people listening and ready to act on whatever mission they had. She would not have been able to defend herself in the tired state she was in and they probably would have hurt Yan undoing all her work.

“They seemed to retreat a bit when we promised to leave the temple….”

“But we’re worried they’re controlling Aang.”

The three waited for Bumi’s response.

“Well this is exciting!” he said, pursing his lips and stroking his chin pensively. “Do they know you’re here?”

“I don’t think so. We didn’t decide to come here until Appa was already out of sight of the temple. We made it sound like we just wanted to get out of there and left,” said Zuko, replaying the scenes in his head. “I don’t think we slipped up….”

 

* * *

 

 

Nobody really knew what time it was when they were awakened from their rooms - separate rooms much to Zuko and Katara’s displeasure - by Bumi’s guards. They were escorted from their long naps, still bleary eyed and hurriedly dressed down to a large dining room which Katara recognised from years before. Bumi sat at the head of a long stone table, drumming his fingertips together in thought and surveying the vast feast that had been set along the table. As the three walked into the room, the guard bowed, left, and the doors were replaced by solid rock. They noticed Appa munching happily near the table. He rumbled in acknowledgement.

They took their places; Toph’s chair lacked colour but was an intricate stone construction to the right of Bumi; Katara’s was studded with blue stone - sapphires she realised appreciatively - and to the left of Bumi, slightly closer to him than Toph; Zuko’s was adorned with ruby, which caught the light of the candles, turing patterns across the floor and the table - he was next to Katara so that the three guests formed a triangle.

Without saying anything, Bumi started eating as if he hadn’t eaten in years - but that was just his way. Toph dived into all the food with the same gusto as the King of Omashu, while Zuko, always used to finer manners took a first helping and cut it delicately into small pieces. Katara nibbled on a little bread. She was still feeling weak and slightly nauseous. Slowly, as she ate, her hunger made itself known and she took a few other things, chewing slowly but knowing that her body needed it.

With a mighty burp Bumi slumped backwards into his chair, announcing the end of his meal.

“Your story is strange. I cannot tell you what your mind will… you have seen, what have you been seeing again?” Said Bumi lightly, gazing at the ceiling.

There was a silence.

“What does that even mean!?” said Toph, braking the silence.

Zuko sighed.

“He means dreams or visions,” he explained. Toph and Katara looked at him very confused. “Iroh always says that what you see in your minds eye will reveal important parts of … whatever it is you are thinking about…” said Zuko defensively.

“I’ve not had any dreams,” Toph told Bumi, Zuko nodding his agreement.

Katara was silent for a while.

“Well… I had one dream…” she started hesitantly, catching Zuko’s eye in order to indicate there was more to her story than what she was about to say.

“I was swimming with Tui and La… and then I was - eh - surrounded by fire and there were dragons… and the scene changed again and I was trapped in rock with badger moles… and then I was in the air with sky bison…” she left out her emotions, the feeling of pure ecstasy in the connection with each of the four elements. She didn’t trust herself not to slip up.

Zuko pursed his lips. Toph frowned. Bumi hummed, tapping his nose.

“Well it seems all very clear!” He announced jovially, clapping his hands.

“Fucking White Lotus,” murmured Toph.

“Katara, you saw Tui and La, yes? Really saw them?” Bumi asked.

“Yes. I was there when Yue gave herself to them. I protected them as much as I could…” she said, throwing an accusing glance at Zuko, who looked down guiltily.

“And Zuko, you met our Sun Dragons?” It wasn’t so much a question, it was a statement to which Zuko gave a nod. “Toph, you learned from the badger moles, and Aang has loved the sky bison all his life… So its obvious! The answer lies with these animals!! You should go see them instantly! I will write to Iroh and tell him that you are going to give the sun tribe a little visit!!”

Toph was silent. Then she shrugged and took some more chicken.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would also like to reply to a comment I received which asked if it didn’t make more sense for the ‘opposite’ elements to be harder to learn, like Aang found it hard to learned earth bending so Katara should find fire bending difficult, and Zuko water bending. I feel it has more to do with personality of the bender; remember that a deep appreciation as is required in this story to learn any type of bending. We see in the series that Iroh manages to incorporate waterbending moves into his earth bending; and Aang had a problem with his character which made earth bending difficult for him but when he found the similarities he excelled. No matter how deeply set these similarities are I’ve chosen to explore and focus on that rather than anything else – these similarities. Also, the way I have places the four elements in the body puts fire and water encapsulating one another, earth on one side and air on the other. Therefore going from air to earth or earth to air presents the biggest change of perspective. I hope that helps in understanding why Zuko and Katara can pick up one another’s elements so intuitively.


	16. Gentle Steps and Dance Moves

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Toph, Katara and Zuko say their goodbyes to Yan and Bumi and head towards the Sun Tribe to meet the Dragons. Zuka fails to remind them about the dance they must perform and Toph is not pleased about it. Some tender Zutara moments.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hmmm I guess I get carried away sometimes in the little things… As a response to the comments I’ve got, I would be interested to know what you guys think is going on in the Air Temple – PM me if you fancy having a chat about it. I want to know if the right message has come across! As always thank you for all the comments, and the next chapter should be up in about a week.

 

 

Zuko found his way down to one of the lower levels of the palace to the infirmary. He pushed his way through a set of double doors to a large corridor with more doors leading off it. Directly in front of him were another set of double doors which stood open to a large room with large, high windows which threw the slanted morning light onto rows of white beds. This must be the general admission area. Doctors dressed in bleached, starched white clothes bustled around the patients, making notes and administering medicines. There were a set of doors leading off from the back of the room probably. These swung backwards and forwards on well-oiled hinges as nurses and doctors collected the equipment the needed. There were white screens of wheels that would curtain off this patient or another as they were examined in the large room.

To his left there were other doors, leading into rooms altogether more silent. These were for intensive care or those citizens who wanted more privacy than the general admittance room could give. He padded down the corridor until he came up to one particular door with the name “Yan” scribbled on some paper and stuffed into a rectangular frame. It seemed empty and sad in the large frame created to house the great long titles of the Omashu gentry.

Zuko knocked quietly.

“Katara,” he called softly, “Katara its Zuko.”

“Come in,” came her voice from behind the wood.

Zuko entered the room. It was small and simple, comfortable and very quiet. There was a smaller window here than those in the great hall, offering enough light to warm the room but still allowing privacy. There was a set of chairs with once-lavish pillows lined up on one side, probably for family members to come and visit. He had no doubt that here, as in the Fire Nation, families who could afford it would bring their own decorations into the room. Yan, having nobody, was the only instalment in the room.

Katara sat on one of the chairs but pulled up to the bed. She had tears in her eyes and was holding Yan’s hand.

“Is he alright?” asked Zuko cautiously, walking over to her and putting a comforting hand on her back.

“I don’t know,” she replied in a shaky voice, “He _seems_ normal, but until he wakes up I won’t know. I just… I don’t know…” she trailed off.

“How did you do it Katara? I gathered you used more than water and blood but I don’t really understand…” he asked hesitantly.

“I… used lightning…” she said, staring at Yan. She turned her large blue eyes to look at him, searching for something, he wasn’t sure what exactly…

“I didn’t know you could make lightning?” was all he could say, reassessing how powerful she could be.

“Not… not proper lightning, just the… small kind you sometimes play with. I think its what makes the brain work you know? It was the only think that revived it… it moved so slowly and silently… his body was fine but he was slipping away still. But I don’t know what I did and I don’t know if it worked, I don’t know if I’ve messed him up, if he will be how he was before… I just don’t know…” her blue eyes filled with tears but they didn’t fall. Zuko couldn’t help reaching out to stroke her cheek. His heart skipped a beat as she leant into his caress.

“You did amazingly, Katara. You saved his life. And this isn’t a goodbye…we will come back… I… I promise that we won’t forget about Yan. I spoke to Bumi and he is going to personally take him under his wing and protect him…” he spat out.

Katara smiled and slowly rose, holding his hand and giving him a little squeeze. There was a melancholy feeling hanging between them; they hadn’t had any time alone just to enjoy one another’s company for a while, and they had a feeling that was not about to change with this next excursion.

“Come Katara, Toph is waiting for us,” said Zuko, pulling her closer to him and pressing his lips against hers.

 

* * *

 

 

“Here!” cried out Zuko, pointing downwards from Appa’s saddle. Katara waved from her perch on Appa’s head and directed the sky bison down to a small deserted Fire Nation island. It was starting to get dark and they needed to make camp. They had been instructed by Bumi to arrive in the morning rather than the evening - to not burden the Sun Tribe with their presence spanning more than a few hours. They were the guardians of the dragons and still guarded their tiny civilisation against an insecure world. They should be treated with respect and minimal contact.

With practiced ease the three made camp, fed Appa and slumped on the ground exhausted. Toph spread both both her hands and her feet on the ground and stayed very still. Suddenly she breathed out and smiled.

“We’re very very alone,” she said happily.

Katara grinned. She laughed, jumped up and twirled around letting flames spring from the palm of her hand and intertwine above her. Toph and Zuko laughed too for the sheer joy of not having to be on their guard after the last few very strange days. Zuko made himself a seat out of rock - well… something that he could sort of sit on anyway - and Toph played with the water they had over the fire to boil.

“So,” started Katara, “who do you think these silent people at the temple are?” They still hadn’t been able to discuss the matter openly. Zuko scratched his neck in thought.

“I honestly don’t know. There is no open war going on, and I don’t understand how Aang could have made enemies…”

“They were just really weird Katara! You didn’t feel how they walked! I mean Twinkletoes is very light on his feet because he fucking flies everywhere, but these people stepped like normal except they hardly touched the ground…so not normal at all…I’m not making any sense am I?” babbled Toph.

“They were like shadows. Somebody trained them to pass unnoticed,” mused Zuko.

“Which is exactly why we noticed them,” finished Toph.

They were silent for a while.

“How many?” asked Katara finally, stoking the fire.

“We counted about 10 between us, but there were more - it was hard to tell which was which, as in to distinguish one from the other. And then they disappeared behind that goddamned wall…”

Katara sighed and started putting the vegetables they had brought with them into the now-boiling water.

“Alright. Lets go back to what we _know_ ,” started Zuko authoritatively. “One, there are trained spies inside the air temple. Two, there are at least some earth benders among them in order to create the silent walls.”

“Three, Aang is under their control. Four, Aang is still loyal to us,” added Katara.

“We don’t _know_ know that Katara,” interrupted Toph.

“Well he is at least willing to hide something from them… Toph I didn’t tell you but Aang saw me fire bend. And he didn’t make it public, he just wanted us to get away as quickly as possible,” explained Katara. Toph raised her eyebrows.

“And I guess he did lend us Appa. He wouldn’t have if he didn’t trust us,” she reasoned aloud. “We should probably send him back after sun tribe stuff. They’ll probably think we went all the way to the north pole!”

“Better that way,” muttered Zuko, who was gently stirring the pot.

“I think that Yan was pushed off the top of the temple,” said Katara, watching the hot water swirling round and round and round.

“Why would that happen though?” asked Toph. “Do they just chuck children off of the top of the temple?? I mean what the fuck!”

“Well Aang tried to get us to go away, and when we didn’t then we heard the scream right? And then Aang said something like ‘I _told_ you to leave’. So maybe it was as a punishment for not getting us to go away?” thought Zuko aloud.

Katara shook her head. “But then we went to the temple and didn’t leave again! In fact we stayed a long time and nothing else happened…”

“Yeah but Katara that’s just it; we were _in_ the temple. They might not know about all this blood bending shit but they sure as hell know we are powerful. We could flatten the place in a second. No, they needed to lie low while we were on their turf,”

“Toph’s right. And they all surrounded your courtyard right when Aang was pleading with us to leave. They were listening to our conversation and only relaxed when we made the decision to go far away…”

Toph groaned in frustration.

“Fuck this. Lets just go and take apart the damned temple bit by bit and find the fuckers! Who the hell messes with the Avatar? What do they get out of it!?”

“We can’t Toph,” said Katara quietly, “They are holding all the orphans hostage. And Aang cannot reach the avatar state. None of our elements discriminate, we can’t be sure with what we know that we are not hurting somebody innocent…”

There was a silence between the three, with only the crackling of the flames and the steady bubbling of the pot to disturb the sound of the crickets.

 

* * *

 

 

The first grey light of dawn was just pulling at the horizon when Zuko woke up. He savoured a few minutes of haziness, enjoying the warmth of Katara resting on his chest. They’d fallen asleep fully clothed by the fire, curled up as they used to with one another. Her hair spelled of ash from the fire and her breathing was slow and steady. He couldn’t help but grin at the fact that this girl who had for so long tried to harm him, now felt comfortable enough to fall asleep in his arms on a deserted island.

Slowly, so as not to wake her, he disentangled himself and built up the fire once more. Katara, though, woke with the movement around her and sat up with tangled hair sticking out at impossible angles and crumpled clothes. She yawned, rubbing her eyes.

Zuko padded over to her and kissed her on the forehead.

“Good morning,” he said quietly, and moved backwards in order to stand up again.

Katara found his hand and pulled him back towards her, planting a soft kiss on his lips before letting him go.

“Its early Zuko, we don’t need to get up now,” she said confused.

“Ah but we do! I was just making up some tea and then we dance!” he laughed.

“I don’t pretend to understand what you just said,” grumbled Katara, getting to her feet. “You’re almost as cryptic as Iroh!”

With difficulty they managed to wake Toph up. The fact that they could both (sort of) earth bend made this a far easier task than it had been in the past; they could dismantle Toph’s stone tents and actually be heard by her instead of shouting at rock and receiving only her faint snores as a reply.

“But _why_  do you want us to learn this dance Zuko?” moaned Toph, who had finally consented to sitting up and drinking some tea.

The sky by this point was tinged in baby pink, announcing the arrival of the sun.

“The dragons,” he said calmly, “if we are going to see the dragons you need to dance to them. See if you do it properly they will show you the beauty - the true essence - of fire!” He was reliving his and Aang’s experience of the magic of the dragons.

“And if we don’t do it properly?” asked Toph, taking another reluctant sip of tea. She had to admit, Zuko was getting better at making tea, although he couldn’t seem to get rid of the slight bitter aftertaste in the same way iroh could.

“You die,” he said simply, apparently untroubled by the idea.

Toph choked on her tea.

“And you didn’t think to mention this earlier? I don’t know if you noticed, oh Fire Prince, but I’m blind! Learning dances is not my forte!!!”

Zuko laughed. “You’ll be fine! It is a dance of the flames, and you can feel the flames and so you will learn the dance. Its quite simple really.”

Toph threw her hands up in the air.

“Are you hearing this Katara!” she cried, “are you not worried?!”

Katara pursed her lips thoughtfully.

“No not really, I think I dreamt this dance…”

Toph did not look amused.

“Oh great. Fucking great. So I’m the only one who will get incinerated and I can’t even see it coming!”

“What do you mean you dreamt it?” asked Zuko, completely ignoring Toph.

“Well in that dream I had that I told Bumi about… I was dancing with the dragons… I don’t know if it was the same thing but it was like making the warmth in your core express itself completely… like this:” Katara took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She immersed herself in her dream that had remained with her in extreme clarity. She remembered how there was no confines between her body and the flames around her, how her arms were supported and thrown about by the swirling heat. She didn’t see any pre planned moves, she just let herself go, feeling the warmth pooling in her stomach and bubbling up as she twirled faster and faster and faster…

Katara stopped, a little dizzy and very much out of breath. She realised that she had been breathing out smoke, and just as in her dream it didn’t sting, it was simply part of her.

When her world stopped spinning she could focus on Zuko walking towards her. He reached her and placed both his hands on the sides of her face, planting a kiss on her lips, enjoying the feel of the smoke that emerged from them. He had never been as attracted to her as he was in that moment. There was something spiritual about her when she connected with any of the elements; he’d seen her completely immersed by the power of water, but not yet of fire, not until now.

He gently brushed a finger over her lips, enjoying the warmth coming out of them, then gathered himself and stepped away.

“Yes,” he said, “that’s it. But you’ve jumped straight to the end; we can deconstruct the movements so that they have precise parts. See when you start the dance with the dragons you must do it slowly, and they will set the pace. You need to follow their speed - which will eventually end up like what you just showed us. Toph, did you gain anything from that?”

Toph was standing very still next to them both.

“Errrr… sort of? I can feel the moves sort of with earth bending, but I can only understand them with fire bending…so I was trying to switch between the two…”

“Alright well I’ll teach you both the basic moves - and then you can speed them up. The routine is simple: you start like this;” Zuko held his low position - the first of the statues he and Aang had found in the Sun Temple. He waited for an indication that Toph understood the position before moving onto the next one.

With every move, the two girls copied him and he corrected their posture. There were only a few moves, and he was happy when they had grasped them all in the correct order.

“Alright now you need put them all together and repeat them over and over again getting faster like Katara did… if you can try to focus on the flames of the fire and connect to those.”

Katara found it hard to slow down the extreme ecstasy she experienced from completely letting herself go. But in concentrating on the slowness of the moves she could see how the control is something that is needed with fire. They understood more than others how essential control was to a fire bender, and only the exactness of the moves done slowly and then sped up could allow them to show that. Toph found it more simple than she had thought, and in her twirls and jumps she managed to lose herself in the moves. They were altogether easier than the complex Earth Kingdom dances she had been subjected to as a Bei Fong. This was far shorter and more fluid, and as she sped up she could understand how she was tracing the paths of the heat. In her practicing the feeling of heat, she would feel herself journeying up up up on a gust of heat and then falling down, twirling and being picked up again on another crest. She wondered for the thousandth time what it would be like to _see_ heat, what the difference between just heat and fire was - but then again, she always wondered what it would be like to see anything.

 

* * *

 

Zuko was sitting contently on Appa’s head as they sped through the sky. He was pleased there was thick cloud cover so that they wouldn’t be seen, even though it would hardly matter. The Avatar was allowed to go anywhere now that the Fire Prince had stopped stalking him.

 _Well, actually_ , he mused, _that is kind of what we’re doing now; finding out what he’s doing and why…_

But these people who had invaded the Air Temple had put him on edge and he preferred them not to know where they were. As far as he knew, only the Order of the White Lotus, he and Aang knew where the Sun Tribe’s island was, so there _shouldn’t_  be anybody around to see them anyway.

Every so often, Zuko would direct Appa to dip below the clouds to see where they were - usually merely a wide expanse of sea - but after about an hour of travel Zuko found it directly below them; a small island, for all intense and purposes deserted, mostly in ruins but with trees obscuring the view.

“We’re here!” he called back to the girls, who were repeating the dance over and over in their heads. “Lets go meet the dragons."


	17. Cycle of Life and Death

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Toph and Katara meet the dragons and leave laden with even more questions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: I tried to keep to what was found in the series as much as possible, but there were many loose ends so I’ve tied those up into this story. All comments welcome as always!

The island of the Sun Tribe appeared all silent when they landed. Appa growled until Katara took his saddle off and he could roll around in a river flowing nearby. 

“Are you alright to stay here Appa?” asked Zuko. None were under any impression that Appa wouldn’t understand. He seemed happy to stay put, and they also all knew that he could play in the water for hours without getting bored.

The three took some supplies with them and ventured out on foot towards where they had located the major Sun Temple. Zuko knew that the Sun Tribe would find them there trespassing on their land. They were probably already being watched, so they needed to make their intentions clear. 

The island was tropical, and particularly humid at this time of year. They walked in silence in order not to disturb the frogs and crickets that seemed to impermeate the air. Toph wondered how strong the trees had to be to take the weight of this dense air. 

Zuko stopped in his path, lowering his pack to the floor carefully - insects ruled these floors, the very leaves seemed to shiver with their scurrying, the trunks of the trees seemed darker for the amount of ants that adorned them. He peeled his shirt off his body and stuffed into his bag, before replacing it on his back and carried on, skin shining in the dapples of light that managed to penetrate the thick canopy.

“Oh calm the fuck down Katara!” called Toph from behind.

Katara’s cheeks burned in embarrassment. She constantly forgot that Toph could feel her heartbeat. Every time either of them got a little bit excited she would be there, an involuntary third wheel; her snide comments were simply her way of expressing her frustration at the situation. Katara trained her eyes to the ground and tried to pretend that Zuko’s sculpted body wasn’t just in front of her, tantalisingly close.

Zuko looked back, confused at Toph’s comment. He took in Katara’s blush and downcast gaze and realised he had been the object of her desire. He didn’t bother hiding his grin or the subsequent spring in his step. He couldn’t wait to have her in his arms again.

Soon the shards of light finding their way to the group seemed to increase both in size and density. The trees were thinner than the ones they had been walking through so far, allowing more rain and light to reach the ground. There, much to Toph’s discomfort, there was now a rich underbush where before was just earth. 

Seemingly suddenly, they were rudely thrust out of the protection of the jungle and into a large clearing. Perfectly central to this was the Sun Temple. Zuko remembered humorously his and Aang’s adventure years before.

The temple itself towered steeply above them; so much so that to look at the top was to be blinded by the sun. Obviously this was done purposefully. The thin steps would make it a challenge to climb, and offered no shade from the sun until one reaches the top chamber - again a way to humble the fire bender to the power they may tap into. Adorning the temple were creepers of all kinds, strangling some of the stones to the point of rupture and climbing the steps themselves in their eternal race to make the most of the sun. However, this was all a backdrop to an elaborate play; had the temple really been abandoned for so long, the jungle would have retaken it ten times over. Zuko had now seen enough of the four nations to know that nature does not hold back, and at the first opportunity would engulf this temple within its thick canopy.

The Sun Tribe, in order to keep the last known dragons alive and out of reach of the rest of the Fire Nation, had kept the pretence of the desolate island well. Only one observant, already respectful of the power of fire, and curious to learn the history of the civilisation would realise the inconsistency. 

“We’re going to have to climb it, aren’t we?” muttered Toph, following the other two to the base the the temple. The three kept a steady pace during the climb, reverting to scrambling up on their hands and knees towards the top, where the steps were more worn from the rain and steeper than the rest. 

Finally they half-stepped, half-rolled into the top chamber. The blissful coolness of the shade was a relief to all three of them, but their respite was short lived.

 

“You have been here before,” said a deep voice from within the chamber. Zuko frowned and waited a few seconds for his eyes to adjust to the darkness.

“Yes, I have visited the dragons before with the Avatar,” he replied bowing deeply.

“We know the Avatar’s Bison is here, but where is the Avatar?” asked a tribesman from another part of the temple, hidden in the deeper shadow of one of the pillars.

“No, he is not here now. He has let us borrow his bison in order to seek the council of the dragons for these two companions,” lied Zuko, indicating Toph and Katara. “The Avatar is currently occupied in the rebuilding of the air temples,” he added, trying to find a common thread with the tribe. “Also, Iroh, Grandmaster of the Order of the White Lotus - my uncle - sends his warmest greetings,” he said as an afterthought.

One tribesman with a particularly ornate hat or crown of some sort and a particularly large belly stepped forward with a wide grin and clapped his ring-adorned hands together in delight.

“Any friend of Iroh is a friend of ours! We will take you to the dragons, but you must be blindfolded, as you know,” he said jovially. Some of the other men behind him stepped forwards smiling and holding up pieces of cloth, while others kept their place further back, looking from the newcomers to their leader and back.

“Of course,” replied Zuko graciously. “However, one of our party is completely blind. By all means blindfold her if you like but it will make no difference. I would ask though, if in your kindness you could lead her with more care; usually one of us will guide her but we will be unable to do so if we are both blindfolded.”

The three had decided to pretend to be fire benders and nothing else - which meant Toph had to act normally blind. From years of pretence in front of her teachers and parents, it wouldn’t be an issue, simple a nuisance which would slow them down. She bit the bullet though and played the meek, blind little girl she looked.

“Hmmmm…. A blind fire bender? How does that work exactly?” asked the leader of the tribe, looking at Toph, completely fascinated.

“With a very deep understanding of fire,” replied Zuko shortly. “The dragons will pass their judgement on it,” he added, hoping to divert any further questions. 

 

They were allowed to descend the steps before being blindfolded, in which time Toph managed to bite her tongue about the futility of having climbed all the way up and then back down the temple, and made a good show of having to be lead down. Occasionally she would purposefully step where she knew the stone was worn simply in order to make her assigned guide have to correct her.

By the time they were all down and blindfolded, all three were focussing only on earth bending. There was no reason to need to know where the dragons were, but since they were capable of seeing without the use of their eyes they might as well do so. Ironically it took away some of the magic; the first time Aang and Zuko had been led around the island, there was an air of danger, of mystery, of intrigue… but now they could tell every time they turned back on themselves, all the circles they were taken on to confuse their sense of direction, and finally came to the dragons which were in roughly a straight line in one direction from the Sun Temple. 

 

Katara groaned when they took the blindfold off of her. 

“More steps,” she explained to a very knowledgable Toph.

“Oh,” breathed Toph, pretending to be surprised.

The two bowed deeply to the tribesmen who were still standing with them, then to the tribe leader, before heading off - hand in hand - to tackle the steps.

* * *

 

 

At the top, Katara stood with Toph on the large platform. She turned her head to glance down at the people waiting for them at the bottom, now only small, dark figures. They took a deep breath, focussed of their inner fire, strengthening their core, and started the dance. Slowly. Ever so slowly, like moves of Tai Chi, dissected flows and ebbs of fire, of energy. They completed two rounds before one dragon emerged from the cave to their right and one to their left.

They did not let themselves get discouraged though; they kept dancing. Toph could see nothing, but could feel a great energy just beyond her, wavering in a way only fire did in her consciousness. Katara, too, had her eyes closed, preferring to sense the fire within the dragons than to see them right now. She was scared that the sight of this creature she believed to be extinct would distract her from her dance.

The dragons slowly started circling them, speeding them up, setting the pace just as Zuko had described. They entwined with one another, blurring into one another, leaving only the movement of the flames in their wake. Their entire being vibrated with the energy of fire, and they pushed the two girls to dance faster and faster, never losing their footing, never stumbling, being at one with them and the flames.

They were twirling in complete ecstasy, knowing they should be tired but not feeling it.

 _We have met before,_ entered a thought into Katara’s head. She wasn’t sure if she had heard it or it had been directly sent to her.

 _Yes,_ she thought back, not quite sure how to respond. _We met in a dream._ She concentrated on the memory of her dream, exactly like she was now, but lighter, being able to move up and down at will instead of only horizontally. 

 _You feel us. Now, look._ Came the thought, followed by a distant sense of amusement. 

Katara opened her eyes and felt her mouth drop open. Around her was a vortex of flames, surrounding her - just like in her dream - but the colours that flicked up and entwined with the usual shades of red were nothing like her dream. There they were part of the backdrop, secondary to the movement, but here the colours _were_ the movement. She saw, or rather knew, that she was experiencing the whole world contained within those flames. In her dancing she was chasing them, she was at one with them, she was mirrored in those colours that swirled and would not stop…

And in the midst of them all she could make out long horizontal streaks bounding her sphere of vision; The Dragons.

 _And you,_ came the thought again, although this time it had the idea of Toph-ness attached to it; _you who cannot see and yet see so much, let yourself lift from the ground._

Toph continued her dance, confused at her instructions, but she made an effort to jump higher, to remember how Katara had described her dream of floating on the heat. She focussed on how the dragons could move up and down as well as round. She stopped looking for the ground as safety as she had always done, and instead gave herself up completely to the oscillating heat around her. 

Soon she no longer felt the ground, although she was still dancing, and with her jumps came great spurts up and great falls down, but she would be caught by another upsurge before hitting the ground.

The dance started slowing. The heat dissipated - or rather retracted into the definite form of the dragons. They landed in front of the two girls and observed them closely.

 _You have found forgotten knowledge, and have come to forgotten tribes to understand._ Came the thought from one.

_The world of mankind is in turmoil, and has been for a time. If it does not shift towards balance, the world of spirits will also fall out of balance._

_The Lost Tribes have remained closer to the truth._

_You must play your part._

_We will play ours._

As they conveyed their meaning to the two girls they once again lifted up. This time though, it was different. It was not a dance that they had to join in, but rather something more private, more higher level movement. They sped up to a blur, forming a floating sphere above Katara and Toph. Suddenly the turning of the dragons came to a climax with a brilliant flash of light - Katara fell to her knees and covered her eyes, Toph following suit, not quite sure what hit her. 

The dragons parted and shot past them, something in their mouths and flew down to the bottom of the temple steps. Both Katara and Toph had an impression that they were to follow them, and they quickly scrambled down as fast as they could without slipping or tripping up. 

When they arrived at the bottom, the two dragons were lying down, each one behind a white object. Katara frowned. Two white egg-like objects.

The dragons bowed to Katara and Toph.

 _We can do no more,_ they told them in unison, and they conveyed the essence of Katara-ness to one egg-thing and Toph-ness to the other. 

They bent their necks so they were looking upwards and shot out one thin line of flame each in a salute, before taking off and returning to their caves.

Katara bowed low as they left and then was drawn to the thing that was apparently hers. 

As she approached it she could not understand what it could possibly be apart from… an egg. 

 

“Are those dragon eggs?” asked Zuko in awe. He was the only one to have approached the two girls; the rest of the tribe were motionless in a low bow to them. 

Katara looked up at them confused.

“Uhhh you can … erm … stand normally?” she said awkwardly.

The tribe leader stepped out from the group towards them.

“You have been given an incredible gift. We only have one egg here in the tribe, but the existence of three is incredible!” he remarked. There was none of his previous lightheartedness or joviality - his grin had been replaced with a frown of confusion and un uncomfortable look in his eyes.

“How do these things… you know… work?” asked Toph, who had picked hers up and was running her hands over it.

“We do not know,” replied the tribesman, spreading out his hands. “Every dragon egg is different, which is why dragons are so rare. Another creature would have been able to reproduce quickly enough to defy the Dragon Hunters of old, but dragon eggs do not have a time limit on them. See, they are imbued by the dragon who creates them to hatch at a particular event around it. Until that event, it will lie dormant. It is not the Dragon Hunters that obliterated the dragons - it was the Egg Hunters. We hope that there are eggs we do not know about waiting for a time to hatch. We have one, and in all these years it has slept.”

“So the dragons can just create eggs whenever they want?” asked Toph, confused as to how this made them rare.

“Yes, and no. The dragons are the purest world form of Agni, the fire spirit. Agni created them and gave them fire; and every egg is also a creation of Agni. There must be a spirit intervention for an egg to be created. Why you saw for yourself, the bright light was a spirit crossover!”

Toph looked unimpressed.

“I’m blind,” she reminded him shortly.

“Alright, so the dragon eggs hatch triggered by a particular event, but the dragons gave _us_ the eggs… so does that mean that the event is something that will happen to us?” asked Katara, now looking over her own egg and cradling it in her arms.

The tribe leader raised his eyebrows and shrugged. 

“Now we must once again blindfold you and take you back to the Sun Temple,” he replied, putting an end to their conversation.

 

Toph and Katara dispensed with everything they could from their packs and put the eggs inside,trying to carefully pad them out.

One of the tribesmen who had been friendly to them went over to help. Whenever Katara or Zuko caught his eye he was staring at them in awe.

“Oh you don’t need to be so careful,” he said as he watched the girls try to protect the eggs in their packs. “Dragon eggs can only be destroyed with lightning - they are like marble until that point!” 

“Datu!” snapped another tribesman, indicating that he should not talk to the newcomers. Datu bowed quickly and apologetically and scurried off.

“Thank you,” called Toph after him.

 

* * *

 

 

Appa was exactly where they had left him, and seemed to still be enjoying himself in the river. Vast areas of vegetation around the river beds had mysteriously disappeared, and the fur around Appa’s mouth was a very guilty green.

Katara and Zuko started laughing.

“What? What happened?” asked Toph.

“Appa has eaten half the jungle!” exclaimed Zuko, bursting into another fit of laugher as Appa burped to prove his point.

 

* * *

 

They had stopped in the nearest inhabited village to the Sun Tribe. They found an inn for the night where to eat, and would camp by a nearby lake where they had left Appa. As usual, they used their travelling names: Tara, Zu and Toto. Anybody who needed to contact them would send messenger hawks to those names, and Zuko knew that if Iroh needed to send them a message he would do it to this village.

However, at the hawk station there was nothing for any of them, so they settled down to eat in the corner of a busy inn. Zuko sat in the half shadow with the scarred side of his face against the wall. As they ate they discussed all that had happened.

“Forgotten knowledge and lost tribes,” repeated Zuko after they had relayed to him the wisdom of the dragons. “That makes more sense than visiting all the animals as Bumi said.”

“Bumi only knew a little bit of the story to be fair,” chimed in Toph, who was sat back picking food out of her teeth.

“Right. Well I was thinking about what other lost tribes there were? Do we even know about them?”

“There’s the sand tribe,” said Toph, leaning forward. “They have an incredible understanding and control of earth bending. I learned sand bending from them but I didn’t come across any deep set knowledge while I was there… I didn’t really look.”

“And the swamp tribe,” added Katara. “I’ve been meaning to go back to them. They are very interesting… I wonder…hmmmm. And neither of you have been there, have you?” she asked. Toph and Zuko shook their head, interested at the prospect of visiting somewhere new.

“So that makes fire, earth and water hidden tribes. I suppose none of us know of the existence of a hidden air tribe anywhere,” said Zuko bitterly. It still weighed on him that it was his ancestor’s fault that there were neither dragons nor air nomads left. Through the years he had managed to lift the blame from his shoulders somewhat, but there was still a buried guilt that resurfaced at times like this. Perhaps because he believed they were right to do so for the first years of his life.

“Zuko, don’t —“ started Katara, recognising the guilty look in his eyes.

At that point, though, a waitress - who was looking a little too keenly at Zuko for Katara’s liking - interrupted them.

“Zu?” she asked in a stupidly high pitched voice, even though she clearly knew which one Zu was.

“Yes?” he replied curtly. Katara couldn’t quite hide a smile at his irritation.

“This came for you by urgent messenger hawk,” said the girl, handing over a message cylinder. She hovered at the table for a few seconds, but walked away disappointed when she realised Zu was giving his full attention to the cylinder.

He turned it around in his hands. The Fire Palace internal insignia was scrawled down the side - it was different to the official one and was used for personal messages. He broke the seal on one end and pulled out a short piece of rolled up parchment.

He unfurled it and read quickly.

Suddenly he froze. He scrunched up the parchment in anger, his jawline twitching, and slammed it on the table, making Toph and Katara jump. Fortunately there was enough noise in the inn for it to go unnoticed. 

Zuko tore himself off his chair and stormed out of the inn, leaving the parchment behind him.

“What the hell happened?” asked Toph, confused.

“I don’t know! Let me read,” replied Katara, reaching over to Zuko’s place and picking up the parchment. She smoothed it out as much as she could and read.

Katara gasped.

“What!! WHAT IS GOING ON!” cried Toph, grabbing Katara’s arm.

“Oh Toph. Toph, Mai is dead.”


	18. Shattered Pink

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The three travellers leave the Sun Tribe only to find a message telling them that Mai had died. They rush to Kyoshi to pay their respects.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slightly shorter than usual, but the next chapter is longer and has more exciting things to come!

Katara paced the campsite, watched by Appa’s half-closed eyes. He understood something was up and hadn’t fallen completely asleep, but he was dropping off slowly. Toph had demanded to be left alone and had shut herself away in a rock tent. Occasionally Katara heard sobs coming from it.

Finally she could stand it no longer.

“Toph?” she called. “Toph I’m going to find Zuko. Will you be alright?” She was leaning on the stone tent and talking at it, trying not to feel stupid in doing so.

“Fine,” Toph called back in what was meant to be a grumpy voice, but really she just sounded weak and tired. Katara bit her lip, hoping she would be alright for a while.

 _Where would Zuko go?_ She wondered to herself, pursing her lips in thought.

Eventually she thought that maybe he would take solace in the same things she might seek out, now that he had a special connection with water. She followed the edge of the lake, heading towards the shore that was lit by the rising moon. Silently, she remembered Yue and how her loss had affected all of them. She remembered the brave princess who gave up everything in order to save the moon spirit and the world.

Katara brushed tears away, taking deep breaths to push through the aching in her heart at the loss of Mai mingled with the memory of Yue. But she knew Mai would be different; Yue was actually watching over them, she could look up at the moon and imagine Yue’s face there as she had appeared to all of them more than once. She had not died, but moved to the other side of the line that divided the spirit world from theirs.

But Mai, Mai would not have any luxury attached to her name. She would simply be gone. Like Katara’s mother.

 

Katara stopped, propping herself up against a tree and looked out on the late. She tried not to break down in sobs, focussing on continuing on. Zuko needed her, and she needed him right now. She needed the warmth of the arms of somebody alive, feeling, to remind her of where she stood in the world. She needed to know she wasn’t alone or she would spiral down to where she was when her mother died all those years ago. This was no longer just about Mai, this was about everybody.

As she caught her breath she saw a shadow being cast by the moon further up the shoreline, one unlike the other shadows belonging to the trees, although it stayed just as still. She recognised it immediately though; Zuko.

She picked her way across the remaining distance between them, choosing not to call out to Zuko; he would already be aware of her presence.

She paused when she reached his pool of light. She loved him at all times, but most of all like this by the light of the moon - her moon. The whiteness of the moon reflected off of his pale skin as if he were a marble statue, perfectly sculpted, the bleached colour of his scars allowing them to become more of a part of him than he would admit to himself by the light of the sun. He was timeless like this. And the fact that he had been drawn to Yue’s wisdom and healing thrilled her. He _understood_.

Katara walked to stand next to Zuko, also gazing up at the moon, trying to find wisdom in its light.

“May I stay?” she asked quietly, not to interrupt Zuko’s thoughts.

He didn’t reply. Just stood motionless.

Katara sighed and tried to hold back tears that were ready to spill once again, turning to head back to camp.

“No, please stay,” he called in a strangled voice. He too was trying not to break down again.

Katara saw an earnest plea in his golden eyes. She noticed streams shining on his cheeks - the remains of tears that had carved rivers down his face, and the small drops hanging on his eyelashes which he hadn’t bothered to brush away.

They observed one another for a while, and slowly, simultaneously they came together in a tight embrace. Katara didn’t sob, but she could not stop the tears that sprung to her eyes.

“I think we should go to Kyoshi,” said Zuko, puling away to wipe his eyes.

“I’ve already packed everything,” replied Katara. They wanted to be there at the funeral. They needed to be there for themselves, for Ty Lee, and for all the people who couldn’t make it to pay their respects; Iroh, Sokka, Suki… Aang.

“We should leave as soon as possible and send Appa back to Aang…” said Zuko, looking away as if he had just read Katara’s mind. She just nodded.

“We’ll leave at first light.”

 

* * *

 

 

The three friends spent the journey in silence, their ashen faces and red rimmed eyes spoke clearly enough. When they landed just outside the village of Kyoshi they quickly took what they needed from the saddle and Zuko stopped to write a note to Aang.

 

_Mai has passed away. Thought you should know._

That was it. The note contained everything they needed to communicate without implicating Aang at all. Zuko hid it between Appa and the saddle, hoping that Aang would be the one to take it off him - knowing the Avatar at all told them that he would want to spend some time with his Sky Bison after being separated from him.

The note would tell Aang that yes, Mai had passed, but also that they were on Kyoshi, that they wanted him to join them by sending Appa back to him now, and that they understood his need for secrecy even if they couldn’t quite grasp what was going on at the air temple.

Appa roared a goodbye and licked each of them in turn before taking off. Shouldering their packs, they headed towards the village.

 

* * *

 

 

Mai’s family managed to make it to Kyoshi. Although they did not agree with the choices their daughter had made - the ending of the war, her choice in relationships, her friends, her love of Kyoshi and the warriors - she was nonetheless their daughter, and had been their only child for many years. The three years since the defeat of Fire Lord Ozai had numbed their indignation, and they had seen Mai on a semi-regular basis. More than anything else they knew that to make headway in a career they needed to adapt to this new world their daughter was helping to build, and so had modified their views first aesthetically, then truly.

It was Kyoshi tradition to burn the body which had been placed in the centre of a bonfire of wood. It was also tradition that the entirety of the Kyoshi warriors would fan the flames should one of their own die. It was not tradition to accept any Fire Nation citizens into their ranks, but Mai had been accepted, respected, even loved by the warriors. She was one of them, and although she was born Fire Nation she died Kyoshi.

The village turned out to pay their respects at the pyre, but around the ring of warriors who fanned the flames in full military outfits, stood Mai’s parents, her brother - now walking and talking and looking very frightened, Zuko, Katara, Toph, Ty Lee and a few other people who Katara knew only through the letters she had received.

One of the men who stood by them was particularly distraught, and had his leg bandaged.

 

“That was her boyfriend,” explained Ty Lee later on. They were sitting around the fire that had ebbed to almost nothing, everybody being served rice wine. They were sharing stories about Mai, some of her friends mixed grief with alcohol and were reliving some of their most fond memories. Ty Lee, however, was not yet at that stage. Neither were her three returned friends. Mai’s parents and brother had absented themselves a while ago.

“Ty, what happened?” asked Toph, voicing what all three wanted to know. “We heard it was an accident, but we don’t really understand…”

Ty Lee sighed and took another sip of wine, uncharacteristically somber.

“She had been seeing this new boy for a while and… I think they wanted to marry. At least Mai never found the idea of marrying him _boring_ , so I assume that’s what she wanted. Anyway they were walking by the cliff and it gave way.” She paused and took a breath. “Anu also fell and they were both found unconscious by fishermen… but he recovered with a broken leg - they think he hit a rock on the way down that slowed his fall… but Mai didn’t make it.”

They all mulled over this information.

“ITS NOT FAIR!” cried Ty Lee suddenly, casting her cup to one side and balling her fists. “Mai and I went through SO MUCH! We fought side by side and even teamed up against Azula, and she dies like THIS! By falling?! I just….” She broke down into sobs, pressing her fists into her eyes and curling up on herself. “She was my best friend,” she choked out, gratefully accepting the hugs of the three newcomers.

“Did you still love her?” asked Katara quietly, sympathetically.

Ty Lee took a while to reply. She needed to calm herself down a little in order to get her words out.

“I loved her as a friend. I don’t think we were ever anything more… it was just a comfort really. Thats what we realised when we broke up. We should never have been romantically involved, but we needed to be to realise that… does that make sense?” she sniffed.

“Mai was a tough nut to crack, but once you did she was one of the best people you could meet,” said Toph quietly, brushing at her own eyes.

“Yeah, you give her something to believe in and she was unstoppable,” added Katara, smiling at the memory of Mai fighting with all she had to gain respect from the people who wanted to hate her.

You couldn’t say that Mai was warm and welcoming, an instant friend. But she was fiercely loyal when she decided something was right, like when she stood up to Azula to save Zuko. She was generous, and her general disinterest with the banalities in life made her awareness of the important factors all the more acute. Nobody who knew Mai would take her nonchalance for sloppiness - it was her way of doing, but her intelligent eyes would be taking in and analysing the situation from every angle. It was invaluable, and she would often catch people off guard who had assumed she didn’t care or wasn’t going to act. Not to mention her ability with knives, her flexibility, her astuteness in battle. Again, once her love for her stilettos was put to centre stage instead of being used merely as a means to an end, she shared her knowledge with the warriors. She even designed various fans that would shoot out small blades when they were opened - now a staple weapon on the warriors.

“I owe Mai my life,” said Zuko simply. He meant it in more ways than one. She had been there when he returned to the Fire Nation during the war, supporting him, propping him up. It was then that he glimpsed how caring Mai could be, how loyal. She just needed to be given some attention, for people not to look through her but to look _at_ her, as he and Ty Lee did, and as the others eventually did too. When she was not in the shadow of her parents or Azula she truly became herself.

 

* * *

 

 

Ty Lee got up late. She hadn’t slept much but she didn’t want to face the world. She felt as if a part of her had gone with Mai’s death. The two girls were not similar, but they complemented one another. When Ty had heart problems with anybody she was dating (and she had gone through quite a number), it was Mai who told her to calm down and get a grip. She looked up at Mai like an older sister.

She had come to the conclusion that she needed to leave Kyoshi for a while. It would be too painful to stay. Unlike Mai, her family hardly saw her. Mai had been her constant. And in the time they had travelled across the nations together she had come to think of the others as part of her family too. More than anything she wanted to be with family now.

Ty Lee found Toph, Katara and Zuko sitting on the grass outside the village deep in conversation. They stopped talking when they heard her approaching though.

“I would like to come with you,” said Ty Lee, getting straight to the point with her upfront personality. She played with her plaits in nervousness.

There was a silence as the three tried to understand what she was getting at.

“But you don’t know where we’re going?” replied Katara, frowning.

Ty Lee dropped to the ground, cross legged as part of the group.

“I don’t care,” she replied simply, eyes darting from one friend to another. “I just need to get away from Kyoshi for a while and I want to be with family…”

Zuko groaned and dropped his head in his hands. “Ty,” he said in a strained voice, “things are not easy right now. We’re in the middle of something really complicated…”

“I don’t care!” chimed in Ty Lee with her singsong voice. “I don’t care what you’re doing, or where you’re going. You don’t need to tell me anything if you don’t want to… just please don’t leave me here alone…” she had tears in her large golden eyes and her bottom lip was wobbling.

Toph turned to the others. “She’s turned on the waterworks, hasn’t she?” asked Toph.

“I…I can cook! And clean … and fight… and I promise I won’t slow anybody down…”

“Oh Ty!” cried Katara, leaping on her and forcing her into a big hug. Ty Lee held on tightly.

 

* * *

 

 

“We can’t just leave her here!” argued Katara when they had time alone.

“I know but Katara, she will find out what’s going on in one way or another! You can’t look after everyone,” reasoned Zuko. He was pacing, clearly torn.

“But she’s not just some random person, she’s one of us! And, look, even if she does find out, she’s one of the most trustworthy, cunning people we know. She doesn’t have anybody else right now.”

Zuko paused.

“Argh! I wish we could have been back at the palace! She could stay for as long as she liked!”

“Toph, what do you think?” asked Katara quietly.

“Just let her come Sparky! She’s not in a good way.”

Zuko looked from one to the other and then sighed.

“I’m worried enough as it is, adding another person to this … this… I don’t even know what it is we’re doing right now! But if you think we should then we will. We will have to be careful though…” Katara squealed and jumped into his arms.

“Thank you thank you thank you!”

Toph spat on the ground and sauntered off in the direction of Ty Lee.

 

* * *

Soon they found themselves travelling in a carriage pulled by four Ostrich Horses. It turned out that having a fully fledged Kyoshi Warrior with them meant that travelling without Appa could still be quick and easy.

“So… I’m not allowed to know where we’re going?” asked Ty Lee when there was a lull in their conversation.

“We’re heading to the Swamp. But we can’t tell you why right now,” answered Katara. She sighed. “I should actually tell you all about the Swamp… It is a strange place. It plays tricks with your mind. What you need to know is that time is an illusion in there - you will see visions of people or things from your past or your future, with no way to tell which one they are. That’s where Aang first saw Toph.” She took a deep breath. “The visions might be disturbing. I saw my mother,” she added quietly, glancing at Zuko who looked down at his hands. “You need to keep your head straight though, focus on us, as we are now, to keep you grounded and not get carried away with your visions.”

“Well,” laughed Toph, “I don’t think I will have any problem!”

Katara rolled her eyes.

“Remember that the visions talk, so you might hear voices you recognise. Oh also, do not - seriously - do not harm any of the trees in there. As soon as we find the Swamp Tribe they will explain why to you.”

After that, they travelled in silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like Mai. And I’m sorry I had to kill her off but it would interfere too much with the flow if I hadn’t. But I wanted to give her the time she deserved and so tried to here. Do you guys thing my Mai fit in with the series’ original Mai? I always liked Mai, even in the series!


	19. Swamps and Beetle-Snakes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zuko, Katara, Toph and Ty Lee venture into the Swamp to try to piece together why they can bend more than one element and how that can help them save Aang and bring balance to the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a back-and-forth parallel chapter here. The characters needed developing I think. Any and all criticisms welcome, let me know if I’m creating any of them too two-dimensional. I try my best to explore all sides to a character when I can! Anyway, enjoy, next chapter up next week or before that : )

The swamp water was thicker than how Katara remembered it. Perhaps it was her heightened awareness; she was listening out with all her senses in trying to find where the Swamp tribe were. Nothing about the swamp was recognisable; or rather, it all looked the same. It was shifting constantly - the rivers taking the slushy, muddy banks on one side and revealing an identical looking bank on the opposite side. 

Her head started hurting. She could not make anything out because she felt too much out about the world around her. Everything was buzzing. The crickets were deafening. Depth was difficult to perceive; leaves, branches, insects were of thousands of different sizes, and the flat light coming from a grey sky far above the canopy refused to allow them shadows. There was water all around her, moving quickly, and likewise heat was pulsing in every direction while her earth bending was not good enough to be of much use now in the mud and sludge.

Sweat was trickling down her spine, perspiration pooling under her eyes and upper lip. Her breath was speeding and her head started spinning in the confusion of slush and slime that surrounded her, stealing the edges of her sight, sticking to her throat and tongue swollen from heat…Where had the others gone? She tried to call Zuko’s name but her jaw was difficult to move, as if she had been chewing toffee. 

Something was trickling down her leg, and holding herself up by a tree she looked down, waiting a few seconds for the world to catch up. Oh. Blood. There was blood on her leg.

She frowned, causing some sweat drops that had condensed on her forehead to fall in front of her eyes. She knew she was bleeding… but she must have forgotten it…and she couldn’t heal herself…why was she bleeding on her leg?

Just then she fell forwards onto her hands and knees on the muddy bank and wretched. The muscles of her stomach contracted painfully, trying to push up something that wasn’t there, the feeble bile stinging the back of her throat.

Shaking Katara pulled herself upright, noticing little black dots jumping and nibbling away at her blurred vision. 

 _I need help,_ she thought, the realisation sending her into panic but releasing enough adrenaline into her body to give her a few seconds of strength. The swamp was the only thing that could help her now, but it needed to know she was there.

Taking a shuddering breath, she concentrated on the fast flowing river in front of her. Water would help, water would heal. She planted her feet as firmly as she could in the mud and lifted her hands, feeling the power of the water under her fingertips. She couldn’t hold it for long.

Quickly, she threw her hands above her head, the water in the river following the same motion was pulled up to the canopy level in a massive column, sucking water from further down the river to take its place. With her last ounce of strength, Katara threw her arms down, sending shockwaves in both directions. She stumbled forwards, the black dots grew to blotches and the sounds of the crickets and tiger-monkeys were drowned out by the high pitched whistling piercing her brain. She felt very cold. 

 

* * *

 

 

“Katara?” called Zuko for the hundredth time. “Toph? Ty?” 

The group had been separated when a path they were on slipped, sending Katara tumbling down towards the river. He was in front, Ty Lee and Toph on the part behind. In vain he had tried to get down or around to them, but everything looked the same - it was infuriating! He was trying not to panic, but what if Katara was hurt? What if Toph fell into the water? And to top it all off, he had gotten himself hopelessly lost. 

Zuko decided to heed Katara’s warning in not harming the Swamp, but his frustration was starting to overflow in the form of smoke coming out of his nostrils every time he huffed. He managed not to set the entire place ablaze though, which he considered an achievement.

Suddenly, across the water in the shadows he caught sight of her! She was standing on the opposite bank smiling and waving at him.

“Katara!” he called out, stumbling towards the water. But he stopped short at the bank. That wasn’t Katara. Well, it _was_ Katara, but not Katara right now. He rubbed his eyes and squinted at her.

She hadn’t reacted to his call at all and she still stood there waving. She was wearing a purple gown in fire nation style with bright red bands around the hem and sleeves and a water-tribe blue sash around her waist. Around her neck something was shining - her blue necklace maybe - but he couldn’t quite see for the shadows.

The Katara he had entered the Swamp with wore her hair tied up for the heat and her blue water tribe outfit  (although she had dispensed with the under trousers and wore it in fire nation style, which thrilled him more than it should). They thought that since the Swamp tribe had met her in blue they would recognise her more easily in her old outfits. 

The Katara in purple turned silently and jumped with inhuman speed up the bank and ran away through the trees. 

As she left he felt even more alone, but she had given him more determination. He couldn’t care less what she was wearing or how she had her hair, but he wasn’t about the damned lose her in the middle of this Agni-forsaken swamp! He tightened his pack on his shoulders and trod on.

 

* * *

 

 

Toph was getting bored. They had been separated from Zuko and Katara and Ty Lee had told her to stay put while she climbed a tree to try to see where they had gone. In this wetness Toph was not much use in terms of feeling what was going on. Sand would make things fuzzy with its constant movement, but you could rebuild more or less what was going on. This, though, was a puzzle of mud and trees and roots and animals and was very confusing. She would need to get used to the terrain before she was able to feel very far away. Plus it was constantly being moved and interrupted by water seeping in from underneath or resculpting the banks.

She knew all of this.

But she still didn’t like to be useless because she was blind.

Logically she knew she should be thankful that she hadn’t been the one to fall away on her own - at least Ty Lee had eyes she could borrow.

“Oh Toph,” squealed Ty Lee. “Toph! He’s so beautiful!” 

“What the fuck are you on about?” replied Toph, turning in the direction of the voice

Ty Lee just giggled.

Suddenly there was a surge of water - Toph heard it and then focussed on her water bending. Sure enough something strange was happening to the river! It was as if the water was being sucked one way, flowing quickly past them, and then pushed suddenly in the opposite direction. It was so forceful that Toph took an instinctual step backwards, bangs flying everywhere in the air that had been displaced by the water.

Ty Lee was silent.

“Ty?” called Toph, scared that maybe she had been swept away. “TY LEE!!!” she shouted.

Toph heard some rustling above her and something landed softly by her side.

“Are you alright Toph?” asked Ty Lee from her side.

“I’m fine… did you see the river? What’s going on? Wait a second, how did you climb up the tree so quickly, you were just here!” Toph frowned trying to piece together what had just happened.

“No I wasn’t, I’ve been up there the whole time,” replied Ty Lee. She wasn’t lying.

“But I swear I heard your voice….. Oh. This must be my version of the visions,” said Toph half to herself. What had Katara said? Time was an illusion. Ty Lee had never called anybody or anything beautiful in front of Toph - pretty, cute, handsome, kissable, irresistible… but not beautiful. So it couldn’t be the past. It must be the future then. What was that even supposed to mean?

“Visions?” asked Ty Lee, intrigued.

Of course! Ty wasn’t there when Katara told them about the Swamp.

“Oh. Yeah Katara says that sometimes here you get visions of things or people. But you don’t know when they are because ‘time is an illusion’ or some crap like that. Apparently when Aang was here he saw me as a vision, which is how he knew I was to teach him earth bending.”

“Oooooh I wonder if I’ll see who I’m going to fall in love with!” said Ty Lee, excited and looking around for her promised visions.

Toph smacked her hand against her forehead.

“Ty, you fall in love with somebody different every other day,” she muttered. 

 

* * *

 

 

Zuko decided to follow the river upstream. They had entered the Swamp pretty downstream so he figured any sort of civilisation would live up from that. Since he had no idea where he was or where he came from he decided his best bet was to find the Swamp tribe and enlist their help in finding the others. He silently cursed his fire nation outfit. Katara had told him that some members of the tribe had helped the invasion force on the Day of the Black Sun. He hoped that they could see him as an ally rather than an enemy, but he wasn’t sure how much contact with the external world they had. 

He turned a corner, his foot slipping slightly in the mud and he braced himself against a low hanging branch. When he looked up there was a figure coming towards him. From where he stood he couldn’t quite see who it was - it was too hazy and humid to make out defined lines, but his blood ran cold as the traditional fire nation topknot materialised.

_Ozai._

His father walked towards him, shirtless, sculpted muscles tense, face hard. 

_It’s just a vision. He isn’t here._

Ozai punched first one then the other fist down, igniting fire.

_No no no, this isn’t happening…_

“You have disrespected me. Now fight for your honour!” came Ozai’s voice, booming around Zuko’s head, exactly as he remembered it.

_No, don’t answer, he is not real._

Taking two steps back, Ozai bent his knees to be lower in a traditional fire bending pose. He brought his hands together. Zuko knew what was going to happen; he would take a half run forward and extend, bringing the heat from his core to burn Zuko’s face. Not enough to destroy him, just enough to mark him with disgrace. And Zuko could do nothing.

But this Ozai never had the chance. 

All of a sudden the water in the river by Zuko’s side receded in a strange way, as if it was being sucked away, and then it crashed back down on the shallow bed, sweeping Ozai and the bank Zuko was on away. Zuko managed to grab hold of the branch and hoist himself up out of harms way.

He found it telling that it was water that swept Ozai away, a sort of cleansing…

Wait water.

Katara! Katara was in trouble!

But where had the water come from? The river bent this way and that and merged with so many other streams… He needed to find her.

 

* * *

 

 

“Howdy there!” called a foreign voice from the water. Zuko looked down from his branch. He had chosen to follow the river from the trees so he could get a better look at both banks.

Was this another vision?

Two men wearing not much at all, bare footed, were stationary on a wooden raft. He realised one of them was water bending in order to keep them from being swept away downstream.

Zuko took his chances.

He dropped down to the nearest stable ground.

“Hello?” he called back.

“What’ya doin ‘ere?” asked the other. Alright, they were responding to him, they weren’t visions!

“I’m lost,” he said, having to swallow a little pride. It was still a struggle to ask for help sometimes - something that his father had beaten into him. But his uncle, Aang, Katara and all the others had taught him that asking for help was normal. “And I’ve lost my friend - Katara of the Water Tribe! I think she is in danger, have you seen her??” he asked frantically, picking his way to the closest place to the little raft.

The two looked at one another.

“Purdy girl wearin blue?”

“Yes! That’s the one, is she with you?” 

The first one whistled. “She is noooot in a good way… ya better come with us,” he said, directing the raft towards Zuko. 

Zuko jumped inside.

“What’s wrong with her? What happened??” 

 _Don’t manhandle them Zuko,_ he reminded himself as adrenaline started pumping through his body, _they will tell you in their own time and they will help you_.

“Dunno, they just took ‘er in sleepy-like. Sent us out to look for more…” Zuko clenched his jaw but did not react. This was the quickest way to get to Katara.

“There are other two,” he said suddenly. He had been distracted by Katara, but for all he knew Toph and Ty Lee could also be in danger. “Two girls, one with black hair and dressed in green and the other with brown plaits and wearing bright pink. I don’t know where they are either, we all got separated,” he explained quickly.

“Don’ ya worry, theys sent loadsa us out - if they’re in the Swamp, we’ll get ‘em!”

 

* * *

 

 

Ty Lee was infuriating. She would stop every few hundred metres to look at something or comment on something. It was grating dangerously on Toph’s nerves, not least because she was thirsty and hungry. They were preserving what food they were carrying in the worse-case scenario that they would be lost for a while. 

“Ty, I can’t see, so there is no fucking point in telling me that something is nice cause it doesn’t _mean_ anything to me!” she finally burst, exasperated.

Ty Lee fell silent for a bit.

“But you don’t talk!” she moaned when she could stand the silence no longer. 

“I’ve got a lot on my mind, and in case you haven’t noticed we are lost! I’m trying to make sense of the layout of this damned place!”

“And you can’t tell me what’s going on, can you?” replied Ty Lee quietly.

Toph sighed.

“No, sorry Ty, its not my place,” she said more softly, regretting her harshness immediately. Ty Lee’s best friend in the entire world had just died, and now she was helplessly lost in the middle of the Swamp for no reason. Toph decided to put up with any senseless chatter - if that’s what it took to calm Ty down then so be it. 

Suddenly, though, Ty stopped. 

“Oh Ty look I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it,” said Toph, turning towards her as she felt Ty Lee’s heart rate increase. She interpreted it as her being upset, offended at Toph’s confrontation maybe.

“I… no… its not that…” she replied distractedly.

Toph planted her foot into the ground to try to feel what was going on around them but there was nothing more that usual. She didn’t even try to focus on water bending or fire bending since everything seemed to be made of water and heat. It was ridiculously hard to make anything definite out since there was hardly any empty space at all.

Ty Lee started sobbing.

“Ty? Ty what’s wrong?” cried Toph, walking slowly towards her friend for comfort.

“Nothing. Sorry. Its the visions I guess…”

“Erm… do you want to talk about it?” asked Toph nervously. She still wasn’t the best at discussing feelings - although she _had_ matured somewhat in her travels. 

“I saw my sisters,” explained Ty Lee.

“And …. That is a bad thing?” Toph was not following.

“Its just… they are exactly like me Toph. I’m one of an identical set. And Mai was so lucky because she was the prized daughter of her parents and they came all the way to Kyoshi for her funeral… and I just don’t think anybody in my family would care if I just disappeared. It wasn’t even hard to run away when I joined the circus. I just sort of up and left and nobody cared - they had other five so why should they be concerned about me?” Ty Lee’s voice was trembling as she tried not to break down completely. She remembered Azula’s comments when she opened up to her on the beach; _attention issues_. It was true, but harsh.

Toph, instead, was turning over what Ty had just told her. She didn’t really know much about Ty lee’s family - she never spoke about them. To be fair, Toph rarely talked about _her_ family either. 

Many things about Ty Lee fell into place in Toph’s mind: the way she always needed to be a little different, wanted to be the centre of attention especially with people she was romantically interested in. Ty was searching for a sense of belonging: the circus, Azula’s crew, the Kyoshi warriors. But as soon as she stopped being special she would get scared, she did not want to be one of the crowd.

“You know,” said Toph quietly after a pause, “when I ran away from home they tried to capture me to take me back and imprison me there.”

Ty Lee sniffed.

“Really?”

“Yeah. I escaped by learning to metal bend. For a long time I felt like an object that my parents would use to fulfil their idea of family, but they never took the time to figure out who I really was. I guess the same thing kind of happened with you right? You just had to follow the rules and otherwise were overlooked?”

Suddenly, without warning, Ty Lee jumped on Toph, covering her in a big sniffly hug.

“I didn’t know Toph!” she sobbed into Toph’s hair. 

Gently, Toph managed to extract herself from the girl.

“Alright Ty, calm down. People like us are much stronger for finding our own way. And now look at us; integral members of Team Avatar!” Toph punched the air with mock enthusiasm.

“You maybe… I’m just tagging along…” said Ty Lee sadly as they started walking again.

“Oh stop feeling sorry for yourself! You know why we took you with us? Because you are special, you’re our friend and we can trust you. Believe me we would not be able to trust anybody else, so don’t give me all of that!”

They were silent for a while, walking with their own thoughts.

“Thanks Toph,” said Ty Lee quietly.

 

* * *

 

 

“She’s in the curer’s hut,” said one of the river men on the raft as Zuko jumped onto the shore. He had no idea where he was - it all looked exactly like where he had come from, but here there was a clearing which seemed natural for some reason instead of man made. Scattered across and around were some rectangular huts made of interwoven branches and lifted from the ground on stilts, making them higher than the general lower-branch height. From a distance they would look like nothing at all, hidden by the dense trees. Around him there were people sitting in wooden chairs in front of their houses chattering or milling around. Not many though - not enough for a tribe - there must be other encampments around the Swamp.

Zuko rushed in the direction the man was pointing in and came up to a hut larger than the others and round in structure. He sprinted up the steps and pulled aside the hanging lianas that acted as a curtain. It seemed empty though.

“Hello?” he called uncertainly.

A part of one wall opened - a door he hadn’t noticed. Actually, now that he was inside it was a square room so there must be other parts. Damn it, he was not thinking straight at all. He just needed to know what was going on with Katara!

The man who stepped out from the door was more portly than the others Zuko had seen, with a jolly round face that reminded him of Iroh. The man observed him for a second.

“I’m The Curer, you friends with the water tribe girl?” 

“Yes, yes, I need to see her!” replied Zuko frantically, taking a step towards the man. He indicated Zuko should follow and lead them into the room behind the door.

Katara was there on a sort of high bed, lying motionless.

“Katara?” said Zuko, horrified that he heard his voice cracking in fear as he said her name. He went closer. She did not look well; her skin was pale and small beads of sweat were dripping down her face. There was mud on her blue dress and every few seconds she would twitch in a way that was somewhere between a shiver and a convulsion.

“Beetle-snake,” said The Curer matter-of-factly. 

“I’m sorry, what?” asked Zuko, not taking his eyes off of Katara.

“Beetle-snake got ‘er,” he repeated, as if it was meant to be enough. “She’ll be fine and dandy in a couple o’ hours,” he added when he realised that Zuko was not understanding.

The Curer beckoned Zuko to come round the high bed to Katara’s left leg. On the side were two large pustules.

“See this is where the beetle-snake got ‘er. But I got beetle-snake antivenom. Gotta stop the pus settling though or it’ll poison her all over again. This might be disturbing,” he warned as he got a long, sharp, needle. The Curer preceded to try to make some fire from sparkstones, but Zuko held up his hand.

“I’m a fire bender,” he said, offering a quicker way to sterilise the needle. The Curer pursed his lips in thought, but then shrugged and handed the tool to Zuko, watching in wonder as he produced fire in the palm of his hand, brushed the needle with it and handed it back to The Curer.

“I need to pierce the skin an’ drain the pus,” he warned again, but Zuko did not move.

It took the smallest prick for the pustule to burst and the pus oozed out slowly. The Curer did both, then put the needle aside and squeezed the side of Katara’s leg, working any remaining pus out. He then took a cloth that had been soaking in boiling water, strained it out and cleaned up the pus and wound. 

He put the cloth in a separate pot of boiling water. Zuko realised that The Curer was water bending to make the water hot without any fire. 

What remained on Katara’s leg were two rectangular open wounds. They were a diluted blood-red, the skin around them also red and sore. 

“Another half hour and there will be more pus,” explained The Curer calmly.

“But she will be fine?” asked Zuko again.

“Yes, this happens all the time! See we know what to look out for in The Swamp, but if you don’t it can be a dangerous place. It is good to see the Water Tribe girl again,” he added with a smile. 

“Can… can I stay here until she wakes up?” asked Zuko hesitantly. It wasn’t really a question - he was going to stay there until Katara woke up, but he had to make it _sound_ like a question.

“Of course! I’ll get ya a chair,” chanted The Curer, jovial now that he wasn’t concentrated on his work.

“I’ll be back in a half hour, but just shout if anything happens - other patients, as you know,” he explained, and opened the door to the central room. Through it Zuko could see some other people had arrived. The door closed and left him alone.

Zuko looked around for Katara’s pack but couldn’t see it. She had probably lost it in the fall, and he thanked Agni that he had insisted on taking the Dragon Egg this morning. He sat on the chair, his pack on the floor by his side, and looked at Katara. She was still shivering every so often, but as he watched he felt like the colour was returning to her face bit by bit, the terrifying transparency of her skin retreating slightly. 

“Katara I was so worried,” he told her even though she probably wouldn’t hear. “But I won’t let anything else happen to you,” he promised. 

 

* * *

 

 

“Toph?” asked Ty Lee after they had been walking in silence for a few minutes.

“Yes?”

“Are Katara and Zuko a thing?”

“Ha! Yes they very much are a thing!” laughed Toph. They hadn’t really caught Ty Lee up on anything while they travelled, each lost in their own thoughts. 

“Do they love each other?” she asked, curious now.

Toph sighed.

“I honestly don’t know. They feel a lot for each other - I can tell from their annoying vibrations - but I don’t think I’ve ever really been in love so I don’t know.”

“Oh. I don’t think I’ve ever been in love either,” commented Ty Lee.

Toph laughed. “Ty, you declare you’re in love with somebody different every other week!”

Ty Lee rolled her eyes and giggled. “Yeah but I’ve never been _in love_ in love! I get very bored of people after a while, they always expect me to start acting in a certain way and I don’t really want to, you know?” 

“Yeah I get the same thing. I don’t do relationships. I’m good with the physical and nothing more.”

“Toph that’s so crude,” Ty Lee giggled.

“It’s the truth, I’m not going to sugar-coat it,” shrugged Toph.

“But what if people fall for you?” 

“They can get over it. Look I don’t pretend to like them for anything more so they know exactly what they’re getting into. If they get in too deep well they will just have to deal with it.”

The both stopped at the same time. They had hit another river bank - but they were convinced that they had been following parallel to the river.

“This fucking Swamp!” exclaimed Toph, trying to feel what was going on around them. 

“Oooooh! Toph I think I see something! Wait here, don’t move,” said Ty Lee and then her vibrations promptly disappeared. 

Ty Lee jumped from branch to branch until she found one overhanding the river. She sat there, squinting into the shadows further upstream where she thought she had seen something moving. Sure enough out of the shadows came a wooden raft with a man and a woman on it. The woman was pushing the raft with her hands - water bending she realised - while the man was jumping off it and running up each bank, looking around and running back again. They were looking for something. Where they looking for her and Toph? 

“Yoooooohooooo,” called Ty Lee, standing up on the branch and waving at them. 

They said something to one another and approached her quickly until they were almost underneath her branch. She leaped into the air, did a summersault and landed neatly on the raft, rocking it only gently. The man looked impressed - the woman did not. 

“Hi! I’m Ty Lee!”

“You’re friends with the water tribe girl?” asked the woman.

“Yes! Have you guys found her? We got lost…. There is also my friend - she is just there on the bank… and another guy, quite tall, black hair, scar on his face… have you found him too?”

“We got the water tribe girl and the fire nation guy, and we been sent ta look for you and a earth kingdom girl too…” said the man, looking at the woman for encouragement.

Ty Lee clapped her hands in joy.

“Excellent! Well the Earth Kingdom girl is my friend I was telling you about - she is just round the corner on the bank,” she directed as the woman started pushing the raft towards where she was pointing.

“Toph!” called Ty Lee, “These kind people have Katara and Zuko and they’ve come to get us!”

Ty Lee jumped off the raft and took Toph my the hand, leading her to the water’s edge.

Toph took a deep breath before stepping onto the raft. Now that she was learning to water bend she understood water a lot better. She wasn’t scared of drowning anymore, but her uneasiness still remained. It was much harder to grasp what was going on with water because it was so transitory all the time… she still wasn’t _comfortable_ with being surrounded completely by it.

“Aaaaaaah,” she cried as the Swamp Tribe woman started pushing the raft again. The rocking had caught her off guard and she almost stumbled into the water. Luckily Ty Lee was in the way and she grasped onto her for dear life. 

The Swamp Tribe woman looked at Toph sympathetically. 

“Not good on water?” she asked. Toph just shook her head, not letting go of Ty Lee.

“She’s blind,” explained Ty. “Its alright Toph, look we’re on a raft so you can just sit down in the middle and you won’t fall anywhere,” she told Toph, leading her to the least rocking part of any raft. Toph thankfully sat down cross legged, blushing for giving such a bad, helpless first impression to the Swamp people.

 

* * *

 

The Curer had removed the last of the pus when they transferred Katara into another room. This one was smaller, just big enough for a bed and a few chairs - clearly the recovery room since it didn’t have any of the boiling pots of water or tools that the larger room had.

“You can wait here with her if you like,” said The Curer, always smiling. “She will wake up soon, but she will probably be tired and want to sleep. Now, I need to ask why you’re here?”

“I… eeeeerm… we need to talk to Hue. He knows Katara and we wanted to learn from him,” he said off the top of his head. 

The Curer laughed at this, but nodded all the same.

“I’ll let Hue know and he will come speak to the water tribe girl when she’s better,” he said, turning and leaving them alone.

Once again, Zuko felt completely useless. Why did he always feel useless when it came to protecting Katara? He wished he was better at water bending so he could heal her, or blood bending even. He wondered why The Curer hadn’t used water healing on Katara at all. Maybe it wouldn’t have done any good? Or maybe they didn’t use water to heal here? He made a mental note to ask Katara about it when she was better.

Katara was more peaceful now. The colour had returned to her cheeks and the sweat had dried. Her breathing was less laboured too. She had one strand of hair that had fallen across her forehead in the movement from one room to the next.

Gently, Zuko reached out and brushed it away, pausing for a second to stroke her soft cheek with the back of his hand. 

Katara’s face seemed to lean into his caress, and her eyes fluttered open.

“Zuko,” she whispered. She smiled as he took her hand and squeezed back. She fell straight back asleep, her face turned towards Zuko, hand in his.

Something cracked inside of Zuko at that point. He thought he felt a lot for Katara before then, but it was as if a floor had just shattered and he found himself falling much further. His heart swelled so that it was almost painful. This was Katara, intelligent, brave, beautiful Katara, happy because _he_ was there. Not anybody else, she was happy to see _him_. He had never had that before. He made her happy by just being there!

He had to look away to stop the lump rising in his throat, and raised her hand to his lips to kiss it before bringing it back down. He could not stop the smile that had grown on his face. 


	20. Inside the Swamp Huts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katara recovers from her beetle-snake bite and finds herself the guest of the Swamp Tribe. However, when she tries to repay their kindness by teaching them to water heal, Zuko is not too happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A transitory chapter… sorry it took so long, smut is quite hard to write. Annoyingly. Plan to have a lot more in though. Anyway it is setting the story up for some pretty interesting developments in the next chapter! As usual any and all comments much appreciated.

 

Toph and Ty Lee burst into the room where Zuko sat, still holding Katara's hand in his. They had been directed there by a tribesman awaiting their small raft on the shore, neither having any inkling as to what a 'beetle-snake bite' was. Had it been anybody else they would have been more relaxed since Katara would have been able to heal them.. But if she was ill she couldn't heal herself!

Zuko jolted out of his reverie as they came through the door, pulled violently from his thoughts. He glanced worriedly at Katara and held a finger up to his lips to indicate that she was sleeping. Gently, he lay her hand back down on the bed and followed Toph and Ty Lee back into the central area of the Healer's Hut. A couple of people sat on low benches and regarded them curiously.

"What happened?" demanded Ty Lee as soon as the door shut behind them.

"She was bitten by a beetle-snake. There was a lot of pus and a fever but she is alright now. I hope. At least the Healer says she is…" said Zuko uncertainly, glancing at the door.

"Pus," repeated Toph disgustedly. She didn't like pus. She didn't understand where it came from, but it was slimy and usually hurt and smelled bad.

"Yes, it kept building up in her leg where the bite is and the Healer had to keep draining it out," explained Zuko, but stopped when Toph held up her hand.

"Enough. That's horrible. Argh!"

"But she's alright now?" asked Ty Lee.

"I think so. The fever has gone down and she spoke a little… apparently she just needs to sleep it off. What happened to you two?"

"Swamp. Visions. Swamp people in a raft," listed Toph monotonously.

"Same here," muttered Zuko.

 

* * *

 

The Swamp Tribe did indeed remember Katara, but regarded her with rather more awe than they had expected; such connection with events outside the swamp was rare and the few that had joined the fight against the Fire Nation in order to stop the destruction of their home had come back with strange tales - tales that had now passed into legend. Katara was from a distant cousin tribe and was much more of a curiosity than any of the other travellers.

Zuko was relieved that they had nothing against every individual fire bender - a community so spread out and seeing one another on a less than regular basis could understand that the actions of a few did not reflect on everybody else. Still, he chose not to mention his role in court.

The Curer had informed them that they had been given temporary shelter in a couple of huts in the outskirts of this settlement. Nobody even asked who would share with who - it was written on the concerned face of the fire bender that he and the water bender were together in some way.

Exhausted, Toph and Ty Lee climbed the ladder to their small hut and fell directly asleep, thankful for what food they had left and some clean water. Tomorrow would be another adventure.

Zuko, meanwhile, was left to transport Katara on his own to the other hut. This one had actual stairs and looked more finished than the one the girls had taken - getting and unconscious Katara up a ladder would have been a little dangerous.

He took her into his arms, resting her head on his right shoulder and making sure her hands where neatly folded on top of her and not dangling free. Zuko scooped her up by wrapping his other arm around her knees and holding her close to his own body. He blushed as he realised he was taking her over the threshold as some of the colonies would only take a bride. In their tradition it was bad luck to do carry anybody who isn't your bride in this way… but they were stuck in a silly swamp in the middle of Agni-knows where, and quite frankly he didn't have time for folk tales.

 

* * *

 

Towards evening, Katara sat up. She felt awful and greasy and utterly exhausted.

"Where am I?" she asked herself, taking in her surroundings as they came into a slow focus. Wooden walls strung together with plaited lianas, a couple of chairs, a circle of mud with some fire inside it.

"In the swamp," came a voice to her left. She knew that voice! Zuko! She couldn't suppress a smile.

"Zuko," she said happily, if a bit croakily. She frowned and felt around for some water. There. The pitcher on the roughly carved table. She quickly bent some of the water into her mouth and drank. "What happened?"

Zuko sighed.

"You were bitten by a beetle-snake. But its alright, they found you and had some antivenom… you've been out all day," he summarised, taking in her glossy gaze.

Katara was silent for a moment.

"I water bent the swamp," she said quietly, emotionlessly, just trying to get things straight in her head.

"I thought that must have been you," he said, grimacing at the memory of complete helplessness he had experienced on that bank. Zuko moved to her side as she tried to wriggle into a more comfortable position.

Katara hissed.

"My leg!"

She pulled off the thin sheet they had given them and looked down at her swollen, red left leg.

"That's where the beetle-snake bit you," he explained gently, not liking the way that it still looked painful.

"But they cannot water heal?" she asked, touching the area with both hands. Zuko simply shook his head as Katara healed herself. Slowly the swelling lessened and the redness paled and then turned to almost her normal skin colour; the area around the wound seemed less stretched; the scars of the bite more healthy.

"I'll teach them," she mumbled, sliding back to a lying position and back into sleep.

 

* * *

 

It had taken a long time for Zuko to fall asleep, so when Katara awoke at first light, he was easily placated to stay in bed while she went to speak to her old friends. However, she did not come back. Zuko was torn. Was he being too protective if he stormed around the village demanding where Katara was? It wasn't as if she had gone back into the swamp alone, she was talking and probably negotiating for them. What if he ruined what she was doing? But on the other hand he had been negotiating and learning political leasing for two years while she hadn't been. Still he had no idea where to start with the Swamp Tribe - they were hardly well documented!

"Zuko?" called Ty Lee's voice from outside his hut.

Zuko stopped pacing and all but jumped down the stairs, thankful for some human contact.

"Sweetness is taking aaaaaaaaaages," said Toph, looking very bored indeed. "Can we  _please_  go find her?"

"This is Jay," added Ty Lee in her best singsong voice, " he is the one who helped us out yesterday and he said he would show us where Katara is!" She looked up at the Swamp-Boy's face with flirtatious eyes and Toph looked at Zuko rather unimpressed. The boy had never come across somebody like Ty Lee and he was taken. He couldn't take his eyes off her!

 _Poor boy,_ thought Zuko, but followed him without complaint.

Much to their confusion, the boy lead them back to the Healer's Hut. This time, however, there was a door closed behind the curtain of lianas in the entrance. He knocked only to be greeted by quite a young Swamp Girl.

"Hello Jay, is it urgent? The Healer is busy right now," she said, eyeing the strangers curiously.

"This is Ty Lee.. And these are friends of the Water Tribe girl," he said, gesturing and proudly to his followers.

"Oh! Uhhh…." The girl looked uncertain. She obviously hadn't been told what to do in this situation and she looked back into the shadows of the hut for some sort of advice.

Toph sighed, exasperated. "It won't take long," she said as she squeezed past the girl and into the hut, closely followed by Zuko and eventually Ty Lee.

Zuko stopped as soon as he caught sight of Katara. He then turned and walked straight back out.

Ty Lee let him leave and then looked curiously over Toph's shoulder.

Katara sat in the middle of the reception room in front of two bowls of water. In one hand he held a knife, poised on her arm and already leaving a bloody trail in her skin. Opposite her sat The Curer, watching her carefully with his hands submerged in one of the bowls of water. It was a slight tint of blue.

 

* * *

 

 

"You just don't think about these things do you!? You don't think about the people who care about you - you could have put yourself in mortal danger!" cried Zuko as Katara entered their little hut.

"Ha! You're telling  _me_  about treating those around me well?" Scoffed Katara.

"YES! I learned, I THOUGHT YOU WOULD BE MORE CAREFUL! YOU'RE IMPOSSIBLE - you think you're invincible, but you JUST DON'T KNOW HOW TO BE CAREFUL!" Shouted Zuko, flailing his arms around. He wasn't making much sense, he understood that - expressing himself had never been his strong point, but he hoped the message was getting across. How could she be so stupid!

"What's this really about Zuko?"

"Whats - WHATS THIS REALLY ABOUT! The fact that you … that you.. were HARMING YOURSELF to teach some Swamp Healer how to Water Heal!"

"HE NEEDED TO LEARN! This was the quickest way I could—"

"And thats just after you go get yourself bitten by a FUCKING BEETLE SNAKE! Its like I'm doing my best just TO FUCKING KEEP YOU ALIVE and you go and HURT YOURSELF PURPOSEFULLY!"

He had his hands in his hair, eyes bulging slightly from his head, unsure whether to laugh hysterically or cry.

"Kiss me," said Katara finally.

"What?"

"You heard me, kiss me," she repeated, louder.

"You want me to KISS YOU! ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO WHAT I'M SAYING?!"

"JUST KISS ME!" she shouted back, eyes dark, heart pounding.

"Fine. FINE! YOU WANT ME TO KISS YOU?! I'LL FUCKING KISS YOU THEN!" he cried, storming over to her and grabbing hold of either side of her head. He was firm but not rough when he pulled her towards him and pressed a hard kiss to her lips, pushing her body back and up against the wall.

Katara purposefully pressed against him, pulling him closer by the shirt. Automatically his hands dropped to encircle her hips and hers wound their way into his hair. They were kissing ferociously, taking out their fears and anger on one another.

Hesitating just one moment, Zuko hooked her legs around him, supporting her without any effort at all. She was pushing against him with every fibre of her being.

Zuko was intoxicated by the smell of her hair, by the smoothness of her skin, by the way she would bite his lip and tangle her fingers in his hair. He broke away from her kiss and started nibbling her jaw and her earlobe.

"Manipulative," he whispered into her ear.

She just giggled and nipped the base of his jaw, choosing to focus on his neck instead, pulling a surprised gasp from Zuko.  _Agni this feels good,_  he thought.

He moved away from the wall, supporting her weight easily, and leaped onto the small bed so that he was on top of her. He hardly had a moment to breathe that she was already trying to take his shirt off - something he did himself by sitting up over her.

From Katara's perspective, she could have laid there for hours watching Zuko take off his shirt over and over and over again. The way the muscles in his arms and then his torso flexed with the movement gave her shivers, and the way the shirt pulled the hair back from his face for a second before returning it all floppy and messy drew a smile from her.

There was a knock at the door at that point, almost breaking the enchantment they were both under.

"Zuko, Katara, we need to talk," came Toph's voice from outside.

Zuko surprised himself with the growl that came from his lips, and moved with all the swiftness of the blue spirit to lean off the bed, pick up one of his shoes and throw it at the door.

"Whoa…."

"Toph I think they're busy," giggled Ty Lee's voice.

"Oooooh! Right. Cya," called Toph, and they heard two sets of footsteps running down the wooden stairs.

Zuko was back on top of her immediately, and she forgot about the shirt and the interruption as his lips left hot trails down her neck.

This time, Zuko managed to take the bindings from her breasts easily, and paused to observe them. The attention made Katara blush, but she loved it, and her little gasps as he explored them with his lips made him tremble with excitement.

Suddenly they were moving together - as one - like double dao swords they were two parts of a whole. They moved away from one another only to come together again, neither one taking the lead but both following the same path. Katara was feeling sensations she had never felt before. It was like her usual pleasure but maximised, and climbing higher and higher, more intense, clearing her mind of any rational thought. The only things she could think about were pulling him closer, his smell, his skin, his lips, the way his thighs flexed and the feel of his back, the tickle of his hair. She dug her nails into his back as if to hold on to something while her mind and body were flying far far away, above all the mundane sensations of normal life. There was sound - was that  _her?!_  - And slowly the world started rematerialising around her.

Katara noticed the feel of the sheets around her bare body, the sweat that had gathered where Zuko was pressed up against her, Zuko's hot breath on her face… but everything was tingling and bright.

Katara laughed in pure joy, breathing heavily, cheeks red and a smile that refused to wipe itself off. Zuko couldn't help kissing both her red cheeks, her eyelids when she closed her eyes, her nose, her mouth - not caring in the slightest about if he was being annoying.

"Stoooooop," she giggled, pushing him off her to one side. He tried to roll back on her immediately. Of course she was not physically strong enough to really push him aside, but he wanted to humour her and followed her hints. "No, no wait, just one second," she cried out, pushing him back.

She took a deep breath and focussed, then held one hand over her stomach, stretching it all the way to her thighs. Suddenly there appeared white liquid, which she bent neatly into the chamber pot. Then she relaxed.

Zuko was watching her wide-eyed.

"I don't want a baby right now," she said with a smile.

"That is… that is an incredibly useful skill," he replied, smiling himself. She grinned, happy he wasn't disgusted by her act. She moved closer to him and curled round his body, pressing her breasts into his side and hooking one leg up around his hips. Zuko sighed contentedly, gently playing with her hair.

"You want to know something?" asked Katara after a while of contemplative silence during which they both managed to catch their breath.

"Mmmmm?"

"That was my first… I mean that was the first time I… you know… orgasmed…" she said shyly. Zuko could just see the tops of her cheeks go red again.

"Why?" he asked.  _Ah yes, Zuko. Why. She tells you that you are the first to give her ultimate pleasure and you ask WHY!_

Katara sighed. "I don't know really. I think I've never been as comfortable with anybody … or I've never been with anybody so… good…" suddenly she sat up, looking him straight in the eyes, only a couple of inches between their noses. "Do NOT let that go to your head," she said harshly in mock seriousness.

Zuko's eyes were alight with wonder. He grinned and managed to capture her lips with his, pulling her back down on top of him.

* * *

Zuko spent the rest of the day humming to himself. He didn't even realise he was doing it, but he felt lighter. He was quicker on his feet, his bending style much more agile than usual, focussing on short, sharp shots rather than brute force. He managed to step out of the way of all the missiles Toph sent his way effortlessly.

Toph called an end to their sparring, wiping her forehead with the back of her hand.

"Good sex?" she asked nonchalantly.

"You could say that," replied Zuko lightly, not getting angry at her interference in his private life.

"Woah, that must have been good sex," Toph muttered to herself. "Go get Katara, and don't get too excited, we are still learning how to earth bend here," she said more loudly, listening as Zuko practically  _bounced_ away. She had to stop herself throwing up.

Soon, however, he was back.

"Katara is talking to some of the tribe elders - actually this time," he explained, but then he sat down on a rock in front of Toph.

"What?" she said sharply.

"I wanted to ask you something," replied Zuko, his heart going crazy. Toph sighed, thinking that she might know what was going to be said, and dropped down next to him.

"You want to marry her don't you?" said Toph, cutting straight to the point. Zuko's heart jumped.

"Errrrr… no. Well yes. Maybe. I don't know."

"Zuko. Think about what you're going to say, then just spit it out!"

"Right yes… you're right." Zuko took a deep breath and collected his thoughts. "I want to give Katara something special from me. And I was thinking a pendant that she can hang below her mother's. If she wants to. Or she could just not… I'm not sure what she would want to do with it…"

"Hmmm…." Hummed Toph, thinking quickly, "but aren't those necklaces supposed to be for betrothal? So you are asking her to marry you?"

"Well… no, not really. They are betrothal necklaces in the Northern Water Tribe, but not in the Southern. So it wouldn't mean a betrothal, but it would mean that the offer is there if she wants it? Otherwise just a memory… Does that make sense?"

"You want something she can keep on her to remind her of you?"

"Yes. Yes, that's it."

"So… where do I come in?" asked Toph, exasperated and Zuko's lack of communication skills when it came to talking about his own feelings.

"Well, I want to create a special stone. So I was wondering if we combined earth and fire and water bending maybe we could make something different?"

Toph raised her eyebrow.

"I guess you  _are_  the Fire Prince," she muttered, sliding off the rock and standing up straight. "Well I can tell you what feels interesting but I can't tell you how it looks. So in terms of colour you will have to be the judge."

"I want purple," he said, thinking about the Katara he had seen on the bank opposite him a few days ago. "When you mix red and blue you get purple," he explained.

"Yeah. I don't know how to make that happen Zuko. We may need to get something that is already purple and start from there? Or get some red and blue rocks and fuse them?"

Zuko cocked his head to one side.

"You don't really get many red and blue rocks. Hmmmm… thanks for helping Toph, I will think of where to get some interesting colours from - but somehow I don't think in this swamp!" Zuko also slid off the rock and turned to walk back towards the village, but Toph caught his arm.

"Zuko? Could you tell me what colour the Swamp is?"

"Green. Very, very green. Even the water is green because there are green things on it and under it and reflecting on it."

Toph pursed her lips as she thought about it.

"So I guess I blend in here?" she said. Zuko took a step back and looked at her.

"You're wearing a slightly different green… but yes, you blend in a lot." Toph nodded and lead the way back.

 

* * *

 

That night they sat around their little fire long after the other tribesmen and women had left them. Ty Lee was chattering about something, but soon the conversation dwindled into companionable silence.

"Ty? Could I borrow some of your clothes while we're in the swamp?" asked Toph suddenly.

"Er… sure, how come?" replied Ty Lee, considering her friend carefully.

"Zuko told me the Swamp was green and I'm wearing green. I was just thinking that if I get lost nobody will see me… and… well I really don't like the sound of beetle-snakes!" It was unlike Toph to admit to any weakness, but the incident with Katara had scared her more than she dared to admit. Had she been in Katara's place she wouldn't have been able to call for help. She would have just collapsed on the ground and have been overlooked.

Ty Lee blinked in thought.

"Hmmm ok well we can get you to wear my Fire Nation red outfit? I didn't bring much with me, but I think it will suit you! Oooooh and you have such pretty black hair it will go so well because all the stitching is in black too!"

"Ty. I can't see. As long as other people can see me, I'm not fussed," interrupted Toph before Ty Lee got carried away again.

"Its such a shame though! You're so careful with what you feel and whats going on around you that I would really love to experience what you would be like with eyes that see! Wait, Katara, aren't you a healer? Have you ever tried healing Toph's eyes?" Ty Lee looked wide eyes and excited at Katara across the fire.

"Um. No. I haven't," she said slowly, her healer's brain working. With water there was no way - but Ty Lee didn't know she was good with blood now. She  _could_  try with blood, right?

"Toph, do you want to try?" asked Ty Lee excitedly.

"Uhhhhh… sure? I guess?" said Toph wearily.

"Katara?" asked Ty Lee, getting visibly more and more excited at the concept.

"Not tonight Ty. I'm tired. I need to concentrate. We… we could try tomorrow?"


	21. Learning to See

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With much uncertainty, Katara attempts her most daring healing job to date; giving Toph her sight. Things don't go exactly to plan and Toph must learn to see.   
> Meanwhile Ty Lee has more of a role to play in the group dynamics.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again life got in the way. It was half done ages ago and I’ve only got around to finishing it now. Should *hopefully* have more time now to get back into my steady posting rhythm. As always all comments and critiques welcome, hope you enjoy it;)

 

 

Toph didn’t sleep much. She tossed and turned and sometimes would tumble into a turbulent form of unconsciousness plagued with nightmares taunting her hope of being able to see. To _see_. What did that even mean? Would she _understand_ it? What would it feel like? Would it make her truly the greatest earth bender the world had ever known if she could do what the blind _and_ the non-blind could do? Or would it make her lazy and lax in her bending?

Would Katara even be able to do anything about it?

Finally a glimmer of heat grew in the pit of her stomach telling her than dawn was approaching. She couldn’t take the tension anymore and dressed quickly, creeping out and down the ladder in the hope of not waking Ty. Once outside Toph was unsure of what to do. She wondered slowly towards Zuko and Katara’s hut and decided to sit on the steps. Whatever happened she wanted it over with, and the quickest way for that to occur was to talk to Katara.

 

Katara also did not sleep much. Instead, she read her notes by firelight and tried to draw strength from the moon. Here it felt so distant, that new moon that she knew was somewhere in the sky far above the canopy of the swamp. She wondered how the Swamp tribe managed to get in touch with their power - something they did with incredible strength. They did not know how strong they could be, and she did not want to fill their heads with empty promises of greatness. If she could just teach them to heal then they would be strong enough to survive ten such wars. Somehow she needed to tap into this hidden source of wisdom. But first she had to see whether she _could_ do something about Toph’s eyes.

In her moments of confidence she remembered Yan, the child she healed and brought back from the doors of death at the air temple. This could not be harder than that had been, surely!

But in her moments of doubt she wondered whether this was anything like those wounds, which she had caught fresh, before they had a chance to run their course, before the body had had a chance to give up.

Finally, as the dawn approached she felt a calm steal over her - adrenaline waking her from her torment. Zuko was also awake.

 

“There you are Toph!” they heard Ty Lee’s voice call from just outside their hut. Zuko squeezed Katara’s hand in encouragement but he could not bring a smile to his lips. He did not like this one bit. He knew the pressure Katara would put upon herself to help others, and he didn’t want it to crush her if she didn’t succeed. He didn’t want her to hurt herself in trying to help Toph in the same way she had to help the Curer of the village or in saving Yan. However, they had discussed it the night before and she had made up her mind. He knew better than to stand in her way when she was determined.

He stepped outside into the damp greyness of morning.

“Toph, you should come in here,” he told her, “you won’t be disturbed.”

Toph didn’t reply. She merely gathered herself and stalked past him, head held high. She didn’t want to talk to anybody right now. Her heart was hammering far too hard for her lips to work.

Inside she sat down cross legged and tired to calm herself. She felt Katara kneel down in front of her and gently touch her face. Slowly, Katara’s breathing steadied, calming Toph. She tried to feel what Katara was doing but she could not feel anything - just perhaps a little more warmth than usual. Soon, Toph also fell into a half sleep in the stillness.

 

Katara’s journey, though, was anything but still. She focussed on Toph’s heart, beating faster than usual. She followed the blood flows in and out of it, traced them up to Toph’s face; her throat and lips, her nose, her cheeks, her jaw - she could locate them all from inside the body… but her eyes?

Yes they were there, the blood flowed to them, the muscles worked like hers did, like Zuko’s did. So why could she not see?

Again and again she followed the path of blood through Toph’s body, but she could feel nothing wrong with it, nothing unusual at all.

Katara sat back on her heels and thought.

She thought about her own eyes - what as it that allowed her to see? It was not the blood ways for they were the same as Toph’s and yet Toph could not see.

She thought of Yan - all his blood ways functioning yet no life in him. That time, she had looked for the small lightening that happened in her brain.

Katara dove back in and this time drew power from her stomach, following the lightening in Toph’s brain. Now that she was less exhausted than she had been with Yan she understood that the lightening was not confined to just the brain - it spread out throughout the entire body, but so weak you could hardly feel it even when you were looking for it.

But it was this lightening that gave Yan his life force back. Could it be what was missing in Toph’s eyes?

Katara retracted from Toph and followed her own lightening ways, identifying easily the strong connection to her eyes. Trying not to break concentration she searched for the equivalent ones in Toph.

But there were none.

It wasn’t that the ways were broken - she could fix broken things. The body wanted to fix itself, she could just jog it into place. But she could not create what was not there!

With Yan everything was there, she shocked it into working right again - something his body knew how to do. But with Toph there was nothing there _to_ shock into working! Her eyes seemed to be wholly unconnected to the brain - completely unable to send any information, and not even trying. Light could fall on them as it would fall on a precious stone, and that was all.

Finally Katara broke away, tears in her own eyes.

“I’m sorry Toph, I … I can’t,” she said quietly, voice braking slightly.

Toph rose to her feet, jaw clenched against disappointment. She said nothing. Just stood there for a moment before turning and walking slowly out.

 

Toph picked a direction and walked. She was more confident in the muddy swamp now - she was getting used to the water-earth slime that made up the ground. She could bend it easily, but now she could also feel where it led - more or less. Sudden changes would still happen but generally she could take care of herself. She pushed thoughts of beetle-snakes and other animals out of her mind and just focussed on trying to find somewhere quiet where she could _think_.

She sat on the roots of a tree, just breathing. Nobody tried to stop her, everybody let her go. She felt tears well in her useless eyes and overspill. She felt a sob rise up her throat. What had she been hoping for! How could she have been so stupid to allow herself to _hope_!

Toph brushed at her tears with the back of her hand angrily and banged her head against the large trunk of the tree.

“You seem upset?” said a voice by her side. Toph whipped around, standing up defensively. She hadn’t felt anybody coming - but then again she hadn’t been expecting anybody to.

“Got nothing to do with you,” she growled back. There was a short pause.

“You are here with Katara of the Southern Water Tribe?” came the voice again. It was authoritative but kindly. It reminded her of Iroh.

“What of it?” she snapped. She wanted to be alone. Who was this man who thought he had a right to stick his nose into her business.

“Well then it has much to do with me. Come, I want to show you something,” he said softly, not waiting for a reply but not allowing any disagreement. He walked away and in spite of herself Toph followed sulkily, taking one shuddering breath at every step while trying not to break down in tears again.

She did not know how long they had been walking. It could have been ten minutes or it could have been an hour, but the steady movement calmed her nerves slightly. She thought they were going uphill slightly, but she was focussing too much on putting one step in front of another while following the man that she didn’t pay much attention to the lay of the land.

The man stopped by the base of a large tree - the largest she had come across in the Swamp so far. The ground beneath her feet felt firmer, the shapes she could make out were less hazy and this in itself calmed her further.

“I am Huu,” he said finally, sitting on a large root. “And this is the Mother Tree,” he explained. “Come, sit with me a while.”

Toph obeyed but still said nothing.

“Why are you upset, Earth-Girl?” he asked gently.

Well she could hardly not reply now that she had followed him all this way.

“I am blind,” she said simply, hoping he would leave it at that.

“You have been blind for a while, you are not uncomfortable in your blindness,” replied Huu.

“I have always been blind,” explained Toph, “but today a friend tried to heal me, and I allowed myself to believe she would be able to.” Toph took a deep breath in an attempt at not breaking down in front of this stranger.

“Is your friend a great healer?” he asked carefully.

“She’s the best I know.”

“But I guess it is beyond even her to heal what is not broken,” replied Huu. He let his words hang in the air in front of Toph. They sat pensively in silence for a while. Here, slightly higher than the rest of the Swamp, there was a breeze that played with Toph’s hair.

“Let me show you something,” said Huu after a while. He moved closer to Toph and took her hand, placing it on the trunk of the tree. “This is the Mother Tree. She is the Swamp - she is all the trees and all the animals and all the plants in the Swamp. Try to feel her power…”

Toph concentrated on the trunk in front of her. At first all she could feel was bark under her fingers, rough and strong. But then she could feel the light buzzing beneath the bark, just like she felt the heat moving the stone when she first learned fire bending.

The feeling extended, like flexing fingers into a void; the energy plunged this way and that beneath her - the roots - and the same above - the branches. But the roots seemed to form new branches and the branches new roots; the roots moved far too quickly, darting this way and that; the branches fell to the ground and flew to the skies; the tree was as alive as the entire swamp!

Toph retracted her hand quickly and found herself breathing quickly.

“What just happened?” she asked, confused.

“You tapped into the energy of the Mother Tree. You understood how the Swamp works; the animals that live on the tree and the tree that lives on the animals, the water that sustains them both and reclaims them both. Remember this, little Earth Girl; detachment is an illusion for we can never be detached from the whole. Death is an illusion as nothing disappears. And most importantly —”

“Time is an illusion?” guessed Toph, repeating Katara’s words, this time catching a glimmer of understanding of their meaning.

Huu smiled.

“Yes. Time is an illusion since every moment depends and influences every other moment. The Mother Tree shows us this through her power. But this is merely a speck of the power of the universe around us, one that we are just as much part of as it is part of us.”

Toph was silent, considering this. For somebody who had always tried to be independent and her own being she was taking this new lesson rather calmly. What worked on the small scale also worked on the large, and for as much as she might try to stand out and make her own way she knew now that with every fibre of her being she was part of a unity.

“You are just as broken as the Mother Tree,” Huu told her, “for she has no eyes. Neither does she have a mouth or a nose or ears, but there are other ways to hold power, to channel it, to connect to the world around you. I believe you know this already. And if you remember nothing about our encounter remember this; finding the ties of unity will help understand balance.”

 

* * *

 

 

By the time Toph and Huu wondered back into the village - this time in amicable silence - the sun was weakening. When they came into sight three figures rushed at them.

“Toph where _were_ you?”

“We were so worried!”

“Thought you’d just disappeared…”

“I’m so sorry Toph, I really tried… Maybe I…”

Toph held up her hands.

“Stop! I’m fine. I’m sorry we made you try Katara, its not within your power,” replied Toph softly. The three looked at one another uncertainly for a moment, but then Katara pulled Toph into a big hug.

Huu was standing a few steps back, watching the exchange and quietly studying each of them. Zuko, always a little aloof at these reconciliations was also standing a few steps behind the girls and found himself observing the newcomer. He didn’t look like anybody wise, but he had spent years on a ship with Iroh pretending to be a simple fool to understand that there was more to this man than the rough, swamp-tribe exterior; the unwashed hair, the primitive clothes, the shoeless, muddy feet.

Their eyes met and Huu edged around the three girls who were still lost in updating one another on their days.

“I’m Huu,” he said simply, nodding his head in salutation. Idly Zuko wondered how it was that the swamp tribe greeted one another.

“I’m… I’m Zuko…” replied Zuko, not quite hiding the blush that rose to his cheeks. Huu cocked his head to one side like a sparrow-hare and his eyebrows furrowed in thought. The blush intensified. He definitely knew who Zuko was, what his family had done.

“You are welcome to the village. When you leave, say hello to Iroh. I believe he and I will need to discuss Pai Sho sometime soon,” said Huu finally with a smile. He patted Zuko on the shoulder and turned back to the girls.

“Katara, it is good to see you!” said Huu loudly during a lull in their conversations.

“HUU!” she squeaked. Zuko winced at the sound but stayed put was the two were reunited.

“You and Earth-Girl Toph have come to see me?” he asked after everybody was introduced.

“Well… and Zuko,” added Katara, looking guiltily at Ty Lee. She felt bad that Ty was being continuously left out.

“I’m just here for the ride,” said Ty in her usual bubbly way. She didn’t want to be a weight on anybody.

“Then perhaps, as the moon rises I could talk to Water-Girl Katara and Fire-Boy Zuko? Earth-Girl Toph and I have spent a very interesting day together and she may need to rest. It was lovely to meet you too, Air-Girl Ty Lee,” he added as he walked off, closely followed by Zuko and Katara.

“Huh, I wonder how he knew I could do acrobatics,” mused Ty Lee at their backs.

“Oh please, I can’t see you but I bet you have circus written all over you!” laughed Toph. “Come, lets get something to eat, I’m staaaarrrvvviiinnngggggg!”

 

* * *

 

 

Toph and Ty Lee had been given some food - some sort of soup. It wasn’t Fire Palace quality but it was enough. They sat in their little hut talking late into the night.

“Look Toph, I’m sorry I suggested Katara heal your eyes. I didn’t mean any harm from it, but just thought that maybe it would work.”

“Yeah real insensitive Ty,” replied Toph in mock anger. “No, don’t worry, it would have been nice - I think - but Huu told me that you can’t fix what’s not broken. Maybe the spirits just forgot about me or maybe they meant it. Either way its not something Katara can do anything about.”

They were silent for a moment.

“Still… I am sorry. I didn’t mean to spoil your trip… or whatever this is…” continued Ty Lee quietly.

“Actually, it probably helped!” muttered Toph, taking a swig of water. “I’m bored,” she declared. “Lets have some rice wine!”

Ty Lee giggled and sprang up the retrieve the small bottle the Curer had given them ‘for the soul’ after they had arrived. She poured out two small cups and held one out to Toph.

“To my eyes,” she said and drained it dry.

“To your eyes,” repeated Ty, following suit.

There was a short pause.

“Well?” prompted Toph.

“Well what?” asked Ty Lee.

“Come on Gigglypuff, its your turn to do a toast!”

Ty Lee giggled.

“Gigglypuff?”

“It fits. Deal with it!”

“Alright… uhhh… To the Swamp Tribe for their excellent rice wine!”

They both drained their cups and poured out another two.

“To Katara for being the most amazing healer I know!”

“To Zuko for falling in love!”

“To Gigglypuff for actually being fun and not all serious like Sugarqueen and Sparky!”

They drank again. The world spun somewhat.

“Why puff? Giggly - fine - but whats with the puff? Are you saying I’m fat?!” exclaimed Ty Lee, slurring her words slightly.

Toph paused a second then barked out a laugh.

“No! Well… actually you could be fat, but I don’t think so. You didn’t feel fat when we hugged and your steps are to light to be carrying much weight. Its cause of what that guy said… Huu… Air-Girl… cause you feel like a puff of air when you do your silly acrobatics!!”

“HEY! They’re not silly!”

“Are too! Maybe they look pretty, I wouldn’t know, seems like you’re just showing off,” huffed Toph, grinning widely. She’d got her. She was finally winding Ty Lee up.

“Managed to beat you guys enough times with my silly acrobatics!” defended Ty Lee, taking another sip of wine.

“Really? I seem to remember you getting stuck in the sludge at the back of that stupid drill in Ba Sing Se…”

“That was ONE TIME!”

“Can’t jump through earth though, can you?” mocked Toph, with a hiccupped giggle.

“Bet you can’t do this though,” said Ty Lee, standing rather unsteadily and going for a backflip.

She disappeared from Toph’s senses for a second and then reappeared with a crash. Other things hit the floor with her.

“I’m alright!” she cried. “Oh shit. I broke the little table!” she was laughing and trying to fix the leg that had cracked as she hit it on the landing. “I think I may be a little drunk!”

“You don’t say!” Toph crawled over to the mess and tried to find the contents of her sack that had been on the table.

“Oh crap all your stuff! Let me help,” said Ty Lee, dropping down to all fours and also gathering things up without much of an agenda. She picked up the sack the wrong way round and something large and rock-like rolled out of it.

“Oooooh, Toph, what’s this?” she asked, picking the incredibly smooth rock up.

“What’s what?” asked Toph, heading over to her and reaching out to feel what Ty Lee had in her hands. Toph’s eyes widened in shock. She had forgotten about the egg. Shit. She was frozen to the spot. What was she supposed to say now? A less hazy part of her mind was sending out warning bells - she couldn’t explain a dragon egg to Ty Lee without explaining or at least insinuating everything else. She couldn’t pass it off as a rock because why the hell would she bother carrying a rock through the swamp!

But the hazy part of her mind that was controlling the words coming out of her mouth was paralysed. She couldn’t say anything.

However, in that long moment where Ty Lee looked inquisitively at Toph, and both sets of hands were holding either side of the egg, several things happened.

The egg started to glow. It was a soft glow at first, but it expanded quickly.

By the time it reached the outer edge of the egg there was a loud crack that frightened both of the girls, who tried to remove their hands from the egg. But the glow ran over their hands - Toph felt a heat that didn’t burn, and Ty Lee saw the light pass into her skin, turning it golden and translucent.

Then just as suddenly as the glow expanded, it contracted back to the centre of the egg, where it stayed, slowly expanding and contracting like somebody breathing.

The two sat there, breathing heavily, shocked out of the worst of their drunkenness, but still holding the egg.

Toph swallowed.

“Its a dragon egg. And I think we just woke it up.”


	22. Four Parts to a Whole

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ty Lee is dragged into the drama whether she likes it or not - she is the missing piece to this part of the puzzle. The group reassess their focus and awaken the second dragon egg.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not bad timing for this one! Bit of a recap contained here just because I thought things were starting to get a little complicated. Exciting stuff happening though! As always all comments welcome ☺

Katara was no longer Katara. She _was_ Katara, but she was also the branch overhanging the main swamp-way, the beetle snake on the muddy bank, the eggs in the nest in the branches above - the branches that the nest was made of - the ants in the roots of the tree, the water being sucked up to the highest canopy, the leaf falling to the ground….

Something touched her shoulder… she had a shoulder…She was Katara… she knew that touch…

Katara opened her eyes which seemed simultaneously familiar and very strange. It took a few seconds to adjust to the singular world view again. Zuko helped. It made her want to be there all of a sudden rather than basking in the sheer power of the Mother Tree.

“How long was I out?” she asked, feeling the slight dryness in the back of her throat. The moon was high in the sky - she felt rather than saw since it was cloudy above the branches of the Mother Tree. 

“Long enough,” muttered Zuko, trying to convey more to her than what he said. He looked worried.

“You understand now?” came another voice from behind Zuko. “The Swamp is as one.”

Katara nodded.

“It is amazing,” she said wondrously.

“Your friend Avatar Aang found the same thing,” chuckled Huu. “And so did your friend Earth-Girl Toph,” he added.

Katara stopped short at that. Not that there was anything wrong with that Huu had just said, but the mention of Aang and Toph together struck a chord within her. She looked from Huu’s easygoing stance as he gathered the few things he had with him to Zuko’s tense shoulders and worried face.

Then it hit her.

What had they just been doing? There was a _reason_ that last time she was in the swamp she did not sit in meditation with Huu and listen to the Mother Tree - because she _couldn’t_. What had she seen? What had she felt? She had felt the energy pumping through the leaves, the water seeping into the roots, the earth forming and shuffling - she had followed the creatures from birth to death around her… had she been only a water bender she would not have been able to do so. She needed fire and earth bending to be able to feel the true complexity of the swamp - and still it was lacking for she could not air bend.

By listening to the swamp, by sitting and meditating with Huu they had just revealed their secret to him.

Her lips parted in shock.

But then the same must be true of him! If he could know the swamp as he did, he must also bend all four elements like the avatar! 

“You are very wise, Master Huu,” started Zuko, picking his words carefully. He had been thinking the same thing, but as usual had arrived there before Katara. If they were wrong though, they couldn’t risk revealing themselves. 

Huu chuckled.

“I’m no master,” he said. “But I understand some of the Swamp - what the Mother Tree will show me.”

“Do you see everything the Mother Tree has to show you?” pressed Zuko.

“That, I cannot know. But once you accept the unity, there is much to see…” he sighed, patting the trunk of the enormous tree affectionately.

“How did you learn from the Mother Tree - the first time?” Zuko asked again.

“Full of questions tonight! I don’t blame you. It is a thrilling experience…” He said, putting the last things away. “Come, let us walk and talk.” They were silent for a while. Zuko offered a light, but Huu insisted the Swamp would guide them.

“You have seen tonight how the waterways of the Swamp crisscross and move,” started Huu after a few silent minutes. They both nodded although he probably couldn’t see them in the darkness. “Well Swamp bending is about knowing those movements. And then you can see the same ones inside the plants and you can bend those too. If you follow the water through everything in the Swamp it will lead you to the Mother Tree where the Wise sat at peace.” He paused again for a few minutes. “If you meditate with the Mother Tree you forget you are the swamp-bender - you exchange it for the Swamp. There is more to the Swamp than the waterways. Sooner or later, one day or one month or one year or one hundred years after sitting in meditation the Swamp becomes you. Learning to access different parts of the swamp are mirrored in you too…” They saw a few lights emerging ahead of them. “But only in meditation,” he added quietly, “only then can you switch into the way of being of the Mother Tree. Some of us arrive having already learned it elsewhere and can take Her lessons within ourselves. Unity is the only thing that _is_ …” he looked at them meaningfully. 

Katara swallowed.

“We cannot thank you enough Huu,” she said noncommittally. 

“Still got night to sleep. See you tomorrow,” he said lightly and calmly strolled away. 

Katara turned to Zuko.

“What do you make of all of this? I think ——“ She stopped short as Zuko held up his hand.

Slowly he pointed at one of the huts. She followed his finger - Toph and Ty Lee’s hut.

“What. Is. That.” He breathed, eyes closed.

Katara did the same and gasped as she felt an intense heat coming from within the little hut.

“What the fuck….”

 

————

 

Zuko knocked apprehensively on Toph and Ty Lee’s door. They heard some scuffling from the other side but nobody answered.

“Its us,” called Katara uncertainly when the door didn’t budge.

Almost immediately the door was ripped open by a wide-eyed Ty Lee. Her eyes were glossy and she swayed slightly as she stood. The smell of rice wine greeted them as they stepped through the door. 

“You’re drunk,” stated Zuko disapprovingly. He cast a disgusted gaze around the messy hut, the broken table, the objects littered on the floor. Toph sat clutching her sack to her, but he zoned in on the unusual amount of heat coming from her direction. Katara stood by his side also looking at Toph.

Ty Lee closed the door behind them.

Toph stood up, more stable than Ty Lee, and cast the sack to the floor, holding out the faintly glowing egg with both hands. 

An eternity seemed to pass as Zuko and Katara stared at the egg. 

“It just… started glowing…” said Toph hesitantly. “It started glowing when both Ty and I were touching it.”

There was a moment of silence.

“Ty Lee could you leave us for a moment please,” said Zuko, more of a demand than a question. He did not take his eyes off of Toph. They were dark, a mixture of anger and fear beneath them. Toph couldn’t appreciate them, but she could hear the darkness of the voice. She took a deep breath.

“No Zuko. Whether we like it or not she’s in this now,” said Toph, standing her ground. To be honest she was a little scared - her mind was still hazy although she was sobering up quickly, and she had no idea what would come next. But she needed to tell Zuko and Katara how things were.

“No, she’s not. We do not have to involve her,” replied Zuko. Katara glanced apologetically at Ty Lee who was still hovering near the door, eyes flitting from one person to another.

“You don’t understand. I held the egg and nothing. She held the egg and nothing. Only when we both held it did it start doing this whole glow thing! I don’t know what the spirits or the dragons are trying to say… but something about me _and_ Ty Lee did it. Purpose, destiny, whatever the hell you want to call it, but she’s involved.”

They were all silent for a moment. 

“You realise we’re putting her and all of us in danger if we do this,” he said quietly.

Katara had walked over to the frightened Ty Lee and held her arm, apparently sympathetically. She retracted quickly.

“We need sleep,” she said loudly, interrupting the hushed conversation Zuko and Toph were having. “We need sleep and we need to talk properly. First light. We’ll go to our training space… come lets go Zuko…” she said quickly, taking his hand and pulling him towards the door.

“Katara we need to discuss this…”

“No, no we don’t. We can do this in the morning. Get some sleep, good night!” she called as she led Zuko through the door and towards their hut. By mutual agreement they didn’t talk outside.

“Katara what is this about?” he demanded as soon as they had entered his hut.

“Her blood, Zuko, her blood ways. I don’t know why I didn’t notice before! Its like ours…”

“Like ours? Can she respond to you changing her chi?”

“Yes. It flows very strongly. Mostly in the neck and head… like an air bender.”

 

———

 

None slept much, but the rising sun gave them energy - apart from Ty Lee who was nursing a hangover and trying to handle exhaustion. Water helped. Toph had told her to keep drinking water.

Zuko and Katara were already in the small clearing they had been using to practice earth bending, sitting on the rock that jutted out on the side. 

When Toph and Ty Lee arrived they felt rather than saw that the pack with the egg was with them. It was emitting more heat than it had been the night before. 

Without speaking Toph wedged her foot into the ground and brought up the rock that lay beneath a thin layer of mud here - that was why she had chosen it in the first place. She made a flat circle on the ground and indicated they all sit. When they took their seats she lifted her arms and the rock responded by creating a large dome to close them all in. Zuko held out a flame instinctively - small, just enough for light but not for heat. The small light and the large, cool dome game the impression of a cavernous place.

“Katara,” he prompted.

“Ty… you’re… well you’re practically an Air Bender.”

There was a shocked silence and then Ty Lee started laughing.

“You’re _laughing_ ,” exclaimed Toph.

“Well I’m not an Air Bender,” replied Ty Lee slightly hysterically. 

“No, you’re not,” agreed Katara, “but you’re as close to an Air Bender as Aang was to an Earth Bender. You have the capacity - it is there, already within you - but you need a little push…”

“Pfft, Aang needed a bit more than a ‘little push’,” muttered Toph.

“Wait wait stop, all of you,” interrupted Ty Lee. “Can somebody please explain what the hell is going on!”

Zuko bowed his head. 

“We’ll tell you what we know. But with a warning - forget Azula and Ozai, forget Azulon and Sozin, if what we’re about to tell you gets out, we are opening a Pandora’s Box unlike any other the world has ever seen…” he started, trying to impress the gravity of the situation.

“But if it doesn’t,” interrupted Katara, “if somehow we can navigate all this mess on our own, then we stand a chance to help Aang bring balance to this world… and the spirit world.”

Ty Lee had become very quiet.

“Ok enough of the scare tactics, can I just tell her?” asked Toph monotonously.

“Go ahead Toph.”

“Right, here is the super quick summary of what has happened so far: Katara goes on a personal mission to perfect her blood bending…”

“Her what?”

“Oh. Ok lets start before then - during the war Katara met some crazy old water bender who taught her to blood bend. But she was crazy… like seriously, nightmare worthy… so Katara never used it. Then after the war she went on a mission to learn more and found that she could heal with blood bending which is more powerful than water bending for the body… not surprisingly. Then she went on some soul searching thing and found that the body has chi flow in it…”

“I know that too - thats how we chi block… remember I taught you?” interrupted Ty Lee.

“Right… so chi flows around the body… but it flows slightly differently in different people meaning that they can bend different elements. Turns out the blood controls the chi, and Katara can blood bend, so she can also chi bend. Blah blah blah she taught herself to fire bend… taught Zuko and I to water bend… Zuko taught me to fire bend…I taught them to earth bend… yada yada yada…”

“Wait stop. You can fire bend?” asked Ty Lee incredulously. Toph rolled her eyes.

“That is literally what I just said,” she repeated, holding up a flame in the palm of her hand just like Zuko’s. Zuko couldn’t help a small smile at her effortless control now.

“Wow…”

“So anyway turns out not everybody can have this… chi surgery or whatever you want to call it. Only some people who _seem_ to be descendants of some sort of spirit-made benders that are mostly dormant. How do we know this? Well Yue told them. What she didn’t tell us is why the hell we aren’t dormant anymore, but I think we are getting an idea. The world has gone into chaos and is not recovering properly from the war. Probably because of the absence of our dear Avatar…”

“Aang’s working at making the air temples orphanages, isn’t he?” asked Ty Lee, desperately trying to keep up.

“Yes, but its been years and he has opened one. Just one. Iroh sent us to see him to talk to him about what he knew. When we got there he didn’t want to see us and told us to leave. When we didn’t, a little boy - Yan - got very seriously hurt. Katara healed him while Zuko and I scoped out the temple, and we followed these people who were everywhere! They had modified the temple so there were areas that you couldn’t hear and they walked like silent spies from the war. Would have given you and Mai a run for your money. They did nothing. But they didn’t want us there and they listened to everything we said to Aang…”

“I should say… to heal Yan, who had fallen from very high up, I had to use all the bending I had available. Aang watched the whole thing, there was no way he didn’t understand what I was doing. But he didn’t bring it up, he just kept silent and acted angry…”

“Even though he clearly wasn’t angry. He felt tired. We took Yan with us and he is with Bumi right now, but we had to leave before he could wake up. We don’t know if he was pushed or not, we need him to tell us what happened…Either way we’re pretty sure that Aang is being held at the Air Temple with all his orphans hostage. He hasn’t accessed the Avatar State since the end of the war because his inner life is in turmoil and he is trapped with no spiritual guidance…. And you know what happened last time he went into the Avatar State while he was angry…”

“Was that the time in the Northern Water Tribe?” asked Ty Lee quietly.

“He killed thousands,” replied Zuko, looking downcast. Some of his crew were part of those casualties.

“He can’t risk killing all the orphans too,” added Katara.

“That’s horrible,” gasped Ty Lee, “who _are_ these people who are keeping him trapped?”

“No idea,” continued Toph, “we need to go back and get him out, but before that we need to figure out what part we need to play in all of this… so we went to the dragons to see if they would accept us like Yue accepted us…”

“Dragons? I thought there weren’t any left!”

“Aang and I found the island of the ancient Sun Tribe during the war,” explained Zuko, “we were looking for the essence of fire bending and instead found the civilisation still there, and two remaining dragons. I think that’s where Iroh started changing his ideas all those years beforehand. The dragons will show you fire and test your understanding. Should you not become in touch with the essence of fire, apparently they kill you. Otherwise they accept you. Agni doesn’t appear to fire benders as the moon spirit will appear to water benders, so the dragons are our connection to the spirits…”

“You’re alive so…”

“So the dragons accepted us,” finished Katara.

“The dragons also told us that the turmoil in the world is starting to affect the spirit world, and that if we don’t ‘play our part’ then the spirit world would also unbalance. I don’t really want to know what will happen then to be honest. That’s when they gave Katara and I the dragon eggs.”

“The eggs don’t hatch unless triggered by some event happening around them which is decided at the creation of the egg,” took over Katara. “This is why you are now part of this; the dragons meant you to be part of it all. Shortly after meeting the dragons we heard about Mai and came to Kyoshi. Another thing the dragons said lead us here: they said that forgotten tribes have forgotten knowledge and they have stayed closer to the truth. We came to seek that knowledge here, with Huu. Last time I was here Aang meditated with Huu under a large tree and came out of it wiser. This time Toph, Zuko and I did the same thing. It is called the Mother Tree, and the whole swamp is the tree. I know it’s hard to understand, but it is true; separation, death and time are illusions. The Mother Tree is everything in the Swamp, it is the swamp, and it is but one part of the whole of the world…”

“But to access it we needed to use all our senses through all the bending we knew,” said Zuko, “We could not tap into her wisdom so quickly without it. Which is why Katara didn’t last time she was here and Aang did. Which means Huu is like us too.”

“Woah, you didn’t tell me _that_ ,” jumped in Toph.

“New revelation. We confronted Huu as much as we could without revealing anything about ourselves and he said that he could only tap into that kind of power when meditating under the Mother Tree and he was happy about that. He insinuated that he understood what we had done, but didn’t say anything outright. He told us that the only thing that exists is Unity.”

“What does that mean?” asked Ty Lee frowning.

“It means that no one type of bending is separate from the others,” said Toph quietly in one of her moments of insight, “like a branch is not an animal but neither could exist without the other.”

“That’s what we thought,” agreed Katara. “But we cannot bring this lesson inside of us properly without Air. Huu knew that. The dragons also knew that. Huu sensed that you were meant to be an Air Bender.”

“He called me Air-Girl…”

“We need you to show us how Ty Lee.”

“Four parts to a whole.”

 

——————

 

A few minutes of silence had passed as Ty Lee tried to process everything her friends had just told her - the blood bending…. Well… all of the bending… the spirits intervening … the silent walkers imprisoning Aang… the dragons and dragon eggs… air…

“What.. What about your egg Katara? Has that also done the glow thing?” she asked finally.

Katara took it out of the sack she was carrying.

“No. But I have an idea of what might make it do so. Zuko, you want to hold it too?” Zuko looked at the egg and then back at Katara.

“But are we sure we want _two_ baby dragons? We don’t even know if this will work or how to….”

“Just touch Katara’s damned egg!” cried Toph, thinking to herself what an odd combination of words those were. 

Zuko frowned with his good eyebrow but extinguished the flame he was holding up and grabbed hold of the egg, brushing Katara’s fingers as he did so. 

A few seconds passed and nothing happened. They all sat, silently in the complete darkness. Just as they were about to give up there was a glow from the centre of the egg. It expanded quickly and when it reached the outer edge there was a deafening crack - now even more so than the previous time since they were enclosed in the stone dome. The glow seeped into both of their hands, turning their skin translucent, and then quickly retracted to the centre of the egg where it slowly breathed life into the dragon inside. 

Toph took out her egg and laid it in the middle of their circle. Zuko and Katara placed theirs - slightly less bright - next to hers. It was enough light to see by.

“What now,” breathed Ty Lee.

“May I jog your chi into properly Air Bending?” asked Katara gently.

“Sure? I guess?” replied Ty hesitantly. Katara smiled reassuringly and took her hand. It only took a few seconds until she let it go again. 

“There.”

“That’s it?” asked Ty Lee incredulously. 

“I told you, you were practically an air bender already. Your chi path was so close to that of an air bender that I think you could have probably learned it if you’d been taught with the right meditation… I mean if Huu can do it…”

“Alright, we now have two live dragon eggs and an untrained Air Bender. We can’t stay in the Swamp,” started Zuko matter of factly. He had his Fire-prince voice on. “I say we move to the Sand Tribe. Toph you spent some time there and think there isn’t much to be found, but we are going to need those big open spaces. We will leave as soon as we can.”

Toph shrugged.

“As I said, I wasn’t looking. All I wanted to do was sand bend. We’ll need a ride out of the Swamp due East to get there quickly though,” she mused.

“Oh that’s no problem,” chimed in Ty Lee, “Jay will help us out!”

The other three groaned at the thought of being stuck hours on a little raft with a flirty Ty and a besotted Jay!


	23. Learning to Move

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zuko, Katara, Toph and Ty Lee need to get moving to read the vast openess of the desert before the dragon eggs hatch - but that means journeying in less than ideal conditions and staying in less-than-ideal places. Things start looking a little different when Zuko and Katara are forced to share an ostrich horse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And on the third day of Christmas... Zutara Smut.

 

 

The raft ride due east was every bit as annoying as Zuko, Katara and Toph imagined it would be. Ty Lee’s giggles became part of the backdrop noise of the Swamp. Literally everything Jay said she laughed at, teasing him now and then and he pathetically fell for it. Every. Time.

 _She must really need the attention_ , thought Toph, sitting sullenly in the centre of the raft and clutching her pack. It was infuriating having to listen to the two of them! She had hoped for a little silence so she could practice listening to the water - what better time than when she had no choice but to be surrounded by it… unfortunately that was not to be.

What infuriated her even more than the utter triviality of the conversation between Jay and Ty, was the fact that Ty was giving him so much attention. For days now basically all of Ty Lee’s attentions had been on Toph, but not in the same way as she acted with Jay. This was flirty, superficial, fake. Ty Lee wasn’t _really_ interested in all the banalities Jay was telling her, but she acted like it was the most interesting thing in the world.

When it was just Toph and Ty Lee there wasn’t any of this crap - it _felt_ real… but the Swamp was getting to her perhaps as she started replaying their conversations and second guessing herself. What if Ty Lee was doing the same thing with her? But then why would she, there was no indication she was interested in Toph at all… and _why_ did Toph care so much in the first place?

Her only distraction and comfort were the odd times when the raft would suddenly speed up, causing Jay to lose his balance slightly and comment on different currents. In reality it was Katara boosting the raft, trying to get wherever the hell they were going quicker. She couldn’t do it the whole way because only Jay knew how to navigate the waterways of the Swamp, and there were thousands of turnings on each side.

Katara was sitting with her back to Toph’s, looking out behind them. She tried to drown out the incessant chatter coming from the front of the raft but it was near impossible. The only thing that amused her was watching Zuko. He sat occasionally next to her, and otherwise was standing looking off to the shoreline on one side or the other. At the beginning of the day she worried about him. What if he wanted this flirtatiousness too? What if that was what guys wanted? To be bigged up for no reason until they are so puffed up with self importance that they probably couldn’t even walk?

But as she watched him she realised what a stupid thing that was to think. When there was a particularly loud laugh coming from Ty Lee his jaw would clench and his fists ball up, and after a few seconds they would be forcefully be put back to their neutral position. Katara found it funny.

The next time he sat by her she brought it up.

“You’ve learned to control your anger well,” she said quietly. His eyes flicked to hers briefly.

“Not well enough,” he replied in an equally quiet, tight voice. She reached out to take one of his hands and uncurled it, smoothing it out on her knee. He watched her do it without any expression.

“Would you like it if I spoke to you like that?” she asked. She hoped she had read him correctly and he did find the couple at the front as annoying as she did.

He huffed.

“If you spoke to me like that I wouldn’t speak to you at all,” he muttered, actually looking at her this time, his eyes dark and serious. She didn’t know what it was about him when he was being serious. Or angry. Perhaps at one point it frightened her, but she had been on his wrong side when he was being pushed to his limits - and she knew what those limits were. There was no other word to describe him but honourable. He didn’t scare her anymore, and if anything, that kind of strength was somewhat exciting.

Katara was already closing the distance between them when she realised what she was doing, but she didn’t stop. She had been drawn to him. She pressed a soft kiss to his lips, and impulsively nibbled his bottom lip, lingering just a second longer than she needed to before pulling away.

A smile wound its way onto his lips, a new spark in his eye. She knew that spark. She’d distracted him and that sent a thrill through her body. A thrill that intensified as he leaned towards her ear, ticking it with his warm breath.

“I like that a whole lot better,” he whispered, then pulled away suddenly and stood up, returning to his position at the side of the raft.

Katara was a little put out. Here, on the raft where Toph struggled to feel their heartbeats, here they could do those little things in some semblance of privacy! She looked at Zuko, disappointed about his hasty retreat. He didn’t look back at her, but shifted position to compensate for the turning of the raft - and she noticed a very slight bulge through his clothes at the movement. Katara grinned at herself. She didn’t even mind Ty Lee’s stupid laugh anymore.

 

“Why is she doing this?” mumbled Toph, moving backwards so that her head was level with Katara’s.

“I _think_ its so he is so distracted he forgets about being tired. They mentioned to me and Ty Lee when we went to talk to them that it was a full day’s ride to the edge of the Swamp, and we may need to make camp before reaching there if Jay got tired. Ty said he wouldn’t”

“Hmmmm. Nope, I think she just enjoys it,” replied Toph cynically and shuffled back to her central position where she was more stable.

 

———

 

Night was spreading its wings across the sky by the time they emerged into the open air, leaving the thick canopy behind him. Elements of the Swamp were still very much around them, but everything was lower, thinner, and the ground was drier. There was more of a distinction between water and earth here, the river that had been running wide and pooling in various spots had now been restricted to a smaller, faster flowing one. Jay slowed the raft down.

“The next Earth Kingdom villages are along the river, quite far down. Should we camp for the night?” he asked rather too hopefully, gazing at Ty Lee.

“We’re in a hurry, now that we’re in the open we can travel faster on land. Thank you for your help,” said Zuko authoritatively, already gathering his things. A grin appeared on Toph’s face and she stretched her limbs.

“Will you be alright Jay?” asked Ty Lee in a worried, singsong voice. Katara tried not to laugh as Jay visibly puffed out his chest to seem strong.

“I know these waterways like the back o’ my hand! And I got friends all over - I’ll get me a room in a border-swamp village,” he said importantly.

“That’s so good of you, having so many friends!”

“But maybe I could take you further downstream? I ain’t scared o’ night-raftin!”

“NO!” cried Zuko and Toph in unison, jogging his pride somewhat.

“Jay,” called Ty Lee, attracting his attention as she put a hand on his shoulder, “we will be fine on land. I want you to get to the village safely - promise me you won’t do anything dangerous? I couldn’t bare to think of you out here alone!”

He looked her straight in the eyes and took her hands.

“I promise. Will you be alright?”

“We’ll be fine!”

Katara helped stop the raft as they neared the bank and jumped out, closely followed by Zuko. The two of them helped Toph step carefully out after them while Jay and Ty Lee were saying their goodbyes.

Toph launched herself at the ground.

“I LOVE THE EARTH!” she cried, almost laughing with joy. Finally! She knew what was going on!!! Although she had learned to understand the Swamp there was no substitute for firm, hard ground.

She felt Ty Lee’s feet touch the ground nearby. And stood up, still grinning from ear to ear.

Katara waved goodbye to Jay and gave him a boost that sent him almost all the way back into the Swamp proper, smiling despite herself at his whoop.

“Toph, follow the river. Can you do this with all of us? I don’t feel confident enough in Earth Bending yet…” asked Katara. Zuko nodded his agreement.

“Sure can! Looks like a clean run, river probably floods so no trees by the banks Right, now everybody stick together,” she ordered, linking arms with Ty Lee and Zuko, who in turn linked arms with Katara.

Toph tested her feet on the ground and then kicked backwards. Suddenly they were speeding along, Toph perfectly balanced and kicking back with all her strength but the others trying desperately to not fall over and stay as close to her as possible on the thin layer of rock around her. It rippled across the landscape, the earth rising to become their foothold and then flowing away as they passed. Katara turned her head slightly to look behind them and appreciated how much Toph had perfected this way of travelling - there was hardly any evidence of their passing.

They approached the first village by moonrise and slowed to a normal walk. They needed food and to gauge where they were exactly, how to get to the Sand Tribe. However, the first village was too small to have any place to stay and by the looks of it, any food to spare. Toph shrugged it off and took to travelling again, but the next little fishing village was much the same, and so was the next one. The river didn’t seem to be giving these people much to live on.

“Give me a second,” said Toph and walked away from the group. She placed both hands on the ground and took a deep breath. “Alright, if we go this way, following the road more inland we should find a bigger town… I think,” she called beckoning the three to her.

 

———

 

Toph and been right. There was a bigger town, one that had probably seen better days, but at least there were places to stay and food to eat. They happened across an inn shortly after entering the city - a small, nondescript place to stay. It wasn’t too late - people were still around and the moon was still rising. Their clothes were shabby enough after the journey not to stick out, but in the light of the little inn, the keeper at the entrance eyed them down critically, taking in the expensive make of the clothes. They were sure that he overcharged them, but arguing too much would have given away their accents, and more questions would have been asked.

The Inn Keeper directed them to a tavern a few streets down for food, where they had an uninteresting, cold meal. As they were leaving Katara caught Zuko’s arm.

“Shall we ask if they have a map here?” she suggested.

Toph groaned.

“Can’t we just leave it till tomorrow?!” she moaned, already picturing sleep.

“You two go ahead, Katara and I will see if they have a map to sell us,” said Zuko diplomatically. They parted ways easily.

Toph and Ty Lee headed back to where they had come from. The streets were more empty now, and they were getting strange looks from the people they passed. Turing into one street there were two men just standing there blocking the way.

“Maybe we should take the next street up and then two across,” whispered Ty Lee.

“Yeah they feel like trouble,” agreed Toph.

The next street though was not a parallel and it curved away from where they were meant to be going. Toph swore every so often.

“I think there is somebody following us,” murmured Ty Lee, trying not to attract attention.

“Yes there is… alright now do as I say and don’t scream,” replied Toph, taking her arm and pulling her suddenly down a small alleyway. In one swift movement Toph’s arm came up under Ty Lee’s knees so that she held her in her arms. Toph stamped one foot on the ground and the two fell into darkness, the lights from the street above disappearing completely as earth covered the hole.

Carefully Toph put Ty Lee down, whose heart was beating very quickly but who hadn’t said a word. Toph’s hands found the side of the hole she’d created and she concentrated on the events in the street. Two sets of footsteps ran above them but stopped further down the alley. She sensed confusion, and then they ran back over them to the main road. Something was said but all they heard was a fuzzy, distant sound, before Toph felt the men join other men further up the road. They were going in the direction that Ty and her had been walking in and checking all the alleyway leading off of it. The men obviously thought that Ty and Toph had made a run for it.

Without warning, the top of the hole disappeared and the ground they were standing on raised to street level. Ty Lee gasped as if she were trying to breathe in as much air as she could.

“There’s an alley across from here that leads back to the road to the Inn,” whispered Toph.

“Toph, you can’t see the shadows, follow me so we can stay out of sight,” whispered back Ty Lee taking Toph’s hand. Toph noticed it was slightly clammy… which was strange because they weren’t in danger, they just preferred not to have a confrontation, so what could Ty Lee be scared of? Toph put it out of her mind as they ran across the main curved road and into another alley.

As usual, Ty was very light on her feet, and Toph had to concentrate to keep up with her, continuously feeling what was coming up ahead with every fleeting step - something that was difficult to do if your feet hardly touched the ground as Ty’s did.

The alley opened up to the large straight road leading to the Inn, just as Toph had felt. Both of them listened intently before stepping out of the alley’s shadows.

“The two men who were here before are still in the same place a bit further down. We should be able to make it to the Inn no problem,” said Toph, but still held Ty’s hand and followed her into the shadows.

Finally, they pushed the door to the inn open, startling a slightly sleepy keeper. He looked them up and down and hardly hid his confusion at seeing them unscathed. Toph understood that it must have been him hiring the thugs outside to track them.

Toph leant over the small table dividing them. She’d been told that it scared people to be fixed by her blind eyes. She hoped it would have the same effect now.

“When we came back from the tavern we were followed by some people. Do you know them?” she asked calmly. She could feel his heart jump and knew he was lying even before he spoke.

“N-no,” said the innkeeper, swallowing hard.

“Well for their sake I hope they’ve had their fun and have gone to bed,” she replied quietly and moved away. Ty Lee was looking at the innkeeper with pity in her eyes before following Toph towards their rooms.

“Wait,” called the man, “where are your friends?”

“Probably having some fun with your friends,” called Toph over her shoulder without breaking her step. Ty glanced back as they turned a corner and took in his very white face and nervous, darting eyes.

 

——

 

Zuko and Katara had managed to procure an old map. The tavern maid had been all too happy to dig out the tattered map for a few extra coins. It didn’t show much detail of the town they were in, but it gave the general lay of the land - which is the reason she had no wish to keep it and they wanted to buy it. The tavern was emptying by the time they left to head back to the inn.

“…So if we keep heading north east we should come into the desert,” said Zuko. They were talking quietly, the map safely tucked into their packs.

“We need to be careful there - we were lost once and I don’t intend to be lost again. We’ll have to stick relatively close to the border villages till we get to the main town there,” replied Katara, remembering the nightmare of having Sokka hallucinating and the massive wasps.

“We’ll take the slightly longer route so that we don’t get lost. Ostrich horses through the hills and then sand boats from one of these villages. I still need to send a message to uncle to let him know….” Zuko was cut off by Katara suddenly grabbing his hand very tightly. He was immediately aware of his surroundings. They were approaching two large men on the road they were on, who were blocking the way. As they drew closer, they heard another two or three take place behind them. The two men came closer until they were forced to stop.

“What you got in the pack?” asked one of the men in a gruff voice. He had a long scar down his right arm and cheeks eaten by measles or late chicken pox. He squinted slightly from his right eye - perhaps a wound of the same fight as his arm, or perhaps a weakness allowing the arm to be injured.

“We don’t want trouble,” said Zuko. The man smiled, showing three gaps in his teeth.

“Then give us all you’ve got,” he said, pulling out a dagger. Zuko’s jaw clenched. His old temper was rising, his need to prove himself to people who thought they could walk all over him. But he needed to remember that he wasn’t the banished fire prince right now: he was Zu, a simple traveler who had seen better days.

“If we did that, we won’t last a week,” he said, not backing down.

“That’s the wrong decision,” said the first man with a laugh.

His partner, the man standing next to him suddenly spoke up.

“Keep your pack. We’ll take the girl,” he said in a voice as slimy as his hair, while the others laughed and one whistled. The slimy man was the same height as the first man but thinner, lankier, with longer hair. He reminded Katara of one of the pirates they had stolen the water scroll from years earlier. She shuddered at the memory of being tied up against the tree and not being able to do anything. She glanced at Zuko’s expressionless face and squeezed his hand to tell him that she could take care of herself if it came to a fight.

“Can’t let you do that either,” replied Zuko.

“Enough! We’re having the girl,” growled the first man, not-so-subtly signalling to one of the men behind them. He jumped forward and grabbed Katara by the arms, pulling her backwards. Zuko’s hand left hers a split second before she was pulled away and he popped the water pouch hanging by her side open. He didn’t even look at her as she was pulled back.

“If I were you, I’d let her go, turn around and go home now,” he said, his anger audibly bubbling under his words. He was not keeping his temper very well anymore. He _knew_ Katara could take care of herself if it came to that, but that didn’t stop him wishing all these people dead. The first man laughed.

“Oh? And what are you going to do about it?” he threatened, squaring up to Zuko and brandishing his dagger.

Moving faster than any of the men could comprehend, Zuko hit the man’s elbow in exactly the right place to jolt it beyond his control and grabbed the dagger from him with his other hand. He then ducked under the arm that was trying to recover - probably also trying to hit the space of air where he had been standing a moment beforehand, and rounded behind the man. There he pulled the man’s hair backwards, exposing the neck and placed the blade of the dagger on the exposed skin.

Everybody froze.

The man who had Katara was the quickest to respond - he let go of her with one hand and pulled out a dagger, holding it to her neck. He smirked.

“How much do you care for the girl?” he snarled.

“I have a name you know,” spoke up Katara.

“SHUT UP,” he called into her ear, shaking her roughly.

Katara’s free hand pulled water from her pouch and surrounded first his hand, then his arm in water. Suddenly, there was an audible crack of freezing water, he was coated in ice.

“Ahhh!” cried out the man, trying to move his arm unsuccessfully. Katara slid the dagger out of his hand and turned on him. She froze the dagger too, then dropped it to the ground and stepped on it, shattering it to pieces.

The other men didn’t know how to react. By the looks on their faces they had not come into contact with water benders before. Or ice.

“My fingers are turning blue!” cried the man, staring horrified at his unmoving arm.

“They’ll do that. And then they’ll go black and fall off,” Katara told him, just as another swung at her. She ducked and kicked out backwards into his stomach. He fell to the ground winded. Zuko meantime hit the big man he was still holding in the head with the back of the dagger, knocking him out and letting him fall to the floor. The thin, slimy man who stood by the large one saw his partner go down cold and ran as fast as he could past Katara and away, eyes bulging from his head in fear. The final one standing - a boy really, with the first signs of some facial hair coming through - dropped his weapons and held his arms up in defeat.

“You,” said Katara pointing at the frightened boy. “Get him to a fire and thaw out the arm if he wants to keep it. And you,” she said indicating the man still wheezing on the floor, “make sure your little friend wakes up.”

“Find a new line of business,” said Zuko as Katara caught up with him, and they both turned their backs and walked away from the scene.

As they walked Katara noticed that Zuko’s eyes kept flicking to her face and back to the road.

“What?” she asked finally.

“Huh?”

“You keep looking at me, what’s going through your mind?”

“I… you’re not hurt are you?” he admitted quietly, stopping her and taking her face in his hands, forcing her to look him straight in the eyes. He stroked one of her cheeks with his thumb.

“No… no I’m… I’m fine…” she mumbled. A lump had just risen in her throat at the way he had looked at her. She had never seen him look at anybody else that way. Ever. Not Iroh, not even Mai. Katara felt dizzy with the realisation in that moment of how much she meant to him. It had been nothing, a joke of a scuffle with the most pathetic thugs she had ever come across. He _knew_ she was absolutely fine, and yet he was still worried. She didn’t know what to say - she couldn’t say anything or her voice might crack with emotion. She just took his hand from her cheek and kissed it gently.

They walked the rest of the way in silence, hand in hand, with no other trouble on the way to the inn.

Coming through the door they were greeted by a very tense innkeeper who looked them up and down incredulously. Zuko and Katara headed straight to the room but Zuko stopped just before they turned the corner. He went back to the innkeeper behind his little desk who all but cowered into his chair as Zuko approached.

“We agreed a price for the room today,” started Zuko, waiting for the man to nod. “I’ll pay you half again if you make sure nobody bothers us tonight. We ran into some unwanted company in the streets and I _don’t_ like being disturbed while I sleep.” The little man nodded eagerly.

“Y-yes c-c-certainly!” he stuttered at Zuko’s back, not seeing Zuko roll his eyes at Katara.

And true to his word - or perhaps the greed for money - or even the lack of willing thugs - they were not disturbed on their for separate mats on the floor of the small room they had rented for the night.

 

———

 

The next morning they rose with the sun, sent a private messenger hawk to Iroh and bought two ostrich horses from a very nervous looking seller who only had two to sell. Zuko just hoped they weren’t going to get them into any trouble. Anyhow they had no intention of staying to find out; few bags of essentials later they were ready to move.

It went without saying that Zuko and Katara would take one ostrich horse and Toph and Ty Lee would take the other. Ty Lee was in charge of hers since she could see, and on which Toph hung on helplessly behind her.

“Keep it steady Gigglypuff,” warned Toph, “no potholes, no sudden turns, no jumps. I hate these things!”

Katara, being shorter, sat in front of Zuko on hers. She could see the road for being in front and he could see well over her shoulder.

A few hours into the journey the four had run out of things to say to one another and each was lost in their own thoughts. Suddenly Ty Lee decided that Toph needed to learn how to properly ride an ostrich horse - not necessarily direct it, but learn to move with its body in order to keep control. She made it gallop off and stop and gallop and stop to test Toph, much to Toph’s distaste.

This left Zuko and Katara, who collectively weighed more than the two younger girls, going at their own steady pace. The removal of their two friends made them all the more aware of their own little world - something they had been trying hard not to pay attention to.

Being together, like this, pushed up against one another and yet not being able to do anything about it was cruel. But now that Katara had started noticing it she couldn’t stop. She couldn’t just _ignore_ how straight Zuko sat behind her, how his breath tickled her just behind the ear, how his arms would wrap around her to adjust the reins slightly when she was leading the beast in an odd way. Katara was the least experienced with ostrich horses. She could ride them, but she had never been taught so it was very much trial and error, much like Toph.

“You’re doing it wrong,” grumbled Zuko after a while.

“Doing what wrong?”

“Riding this poor animal! You’re trying to oppose its motion, you need to go with it instead…” he said. “Its kind of like… kind go like being on a boat, you need to complement the motion because if you try to fight it and stay still it will knock you over. I bet you get all kinds of bruises after you ride?” he asked, as he corrected some minor details of her posture.

“Uhhh yes, yes I do…But, alright, teach me then.”

———

“Firstly, from here,” Zuko touched the her just at the bottom of her ribs, “upwards needs to be steady. The ostrich horse’s head does not rock as he walks so if you want to direct him neither can yours.” He gently pulled her shoulders backwards forcing her to sit straighter. “Only your hips rock, and your pivot is here,” he said, slipping his hand under her water-tribe shirt-dress which had bunched up so that the slits were at the top of her thighs. She had decided to wear the under-trousers while riding exactly because of this. His hand pressed against her lower abdomen. Katara was focussing on breathing. Then, far too quickly for her liking, he removed his hand and started indicating her hips. “As the ostrich horse rocks one way you need to follow it with the hip on that same side and compensate with the other so that you stay straight. That way you become like his back and won’t bother him.” Finished Zuko.

Katara really tried to follow his instructions, honestly she did. But her mind was far away.

“Uuuh, no, that’s not right,” he said as she didn’t time the hips switch correctly. There was a moment where Kaara tried clumsily to do as she was told, but it ended in a sigh from behind her.

“Alright. Why don’t you just… follow my movement…” suggested Zuko, pushing himself closer to her so that his hips and her bottom were squashed together…

———

“First, from here,” said Zuko, hesitating just a second before gently touching her just at the bottom of her ribs, “upwards needs to be steady.” He didn’t miss the small intake of breath at the unexpected contact, even if it was through clothes. “The ostrich horse’s head does not rock as he walks so if you want to direct him, neither can yours,” he explained, taking away his hand. Had he just imagined it or had she unconsciously followed his touch as he pulled away. He pulled her shoulders into place absent mindedly as he considered this. Here he was, with Katara, on an ostrich horse.. And he had just thoughtlessly suggested to teach her how to ride. His heart hammered in his chest as he glanced around only to see Ty Lee and Toph far up ahead. How far could he push this?

“Only your hips rock,” he started, imagining her hips rocking but in a completely different situation, “and your pivot is here.” Could he do this? Would she be alright with it? Zuko’s hand trembled just a tiny bit as he found the slit to her dress and slipped his hand under it. He silently cursed the fact that she had gone back to wearing the under trousers while riding. Gently, he placed his hand on her lower abdomen. It froze up under his touch, clenching nervously.

 _Oh shit, she doesn’t like this,_ he thought to himself, pulling away. He took another breath and continued - something about her hips compensating, just parroting the words of Iroh as he had been taught to ride. He hardly put pressure on her hips as he indicated which one should be going down and up. He hardly breathed.

But Katara was not getting it. This wasn’t normal - he had seen her move and waterbend and dance and… be with him… she knew how to move her hips! But right now she was doing it completely wrong. He listened to her heartbeat and was surprised to hear it racing, her breath coming in shallow, sharp bursts.

 _Maybe she did like it,_ he allowed himself to think, _maybe she liked it too much?_. That thrilled him more than anything, and the more he thought about it the more he decided that it was the only explanation for her behaviour. He said something to fill the silence - telling her that she wasn’t doing it right - but really he was thinking hard. Hadn’t she kissed him the day before, pulling his lip with her teeth? Maybe this would also be alright, their little secret and private life.

“Alright,” he started before he had fully considered his options, “Why don’t you just… follow my movement…”. He wasn’t thinking anymore. Not really. This wasn’t what the Fire Prince would do - not what a Fire Prince _should_ do. But he really didn’t care.

Zuko pushed himself further forward so that his hips could not be more pressed against her. With a thrill he felt her go rigid in shock against him for a second, then lean back even further so that her whole body was touching his. He found his head above her shoulder, but was at a loss as to where to put his hands. Fortunately this alternative Zuko, the one who was controlling his limbs, decided to place his hands under her shirt-dress and on her lower abdomen. There he could indicate which way she should go.

Suddenly Katara had no problem understanding how to ride an ostrich horse, and followed his hips perfectly, not breaking rhythm or contact for a moment. Zuko’s breathing started increasing. _Too much! Too much!_ He thought to himself panicking. What had he been thinking! Katara, pushed against him, moving with him, grinding her butt into his pelvis… Katara, smooth skin, stomach flexing under his fingers… Zuko could feel himself getting more and more excited.

“Uhhh… yes I think you’ve got it…” he stammered, taking his arms back out into the the open in order to push himself a little further backwards.

“No, I don’t think I do,” replied Katara quickly. Her free hand caught one of his and wrapped it tightly around her waist. “I think I need more practice,” she added, taking Zuko’s other arm and doing the same. They weren’t in skin contact anymore but she was held tighter against him.

 _Does she know what she’s doing?_ He thought as they moved with one another. _There is no way she can’t feel what’s going on…_ he reasoned. Which meant… _she wants it too!_ He didn’t need any other indication. He pulled her to him in earnest now, making a point of pushing his pelvis against her with every hip switch. Zuko looked to one side to try to gauge her face in all of this. She was smiling, eyes half closed and glazed over. Thankfully the road was straight and she didn’t need to do anything with the reins that were held slack in her hand.

Zuko was growing. He could think of nothing else but Katara… and she was right there, pushed against him… and neither could do anything about it. Impulsively he nibbled the ear that hovered by his mouth, biting the lobe playfully, and pulling a quiet moan from her lips. She turned so that her ear could be closer to his mouth but he had decided to explore her neck, which she gladly exposed for him. Zuko kissed her and occasionally bit her gently all the way down to her collarbone and back up to the base of her jawline. There, Katara’s free hand closed around one of his arms, nails digging into his skin slightly. Zuko was a little confused.

“Do you want me to stop?” he whispered in her ear.

“I never want you to stop,” she replied in a low voice.

The continued like that for a little while; Zuko exploring her ear, her jawline, her neck, moving together. But Zuko knew it would become a little more painful. And eventually it did - that amount of buildup with no release was no laughing matter. He felt like he was going to explode.

“Katara,” he groaned finally, “I need to stop. I need too…”

“I know,” she replied, “me too.”

“I don’t think you understand,” he persisted. He honestly was going to explode. He had never been _this_ big, _this_ desperate for release.

“Oh, I do,” came Katara’s voice from just in front of him. She took one his his hands and unwrapped it from her waist. Then she slid it back under her dress to her abdomen, this time following it with her own hand. From there she lifted the edge of her trousers and pulled his hand down into them with hers, holding him so that he cupped the curve of _her_ pelvis inside her undergarments.

It was wet. It was very wet, and very, very warm.

“See,” she whispered. Katara removed her hand, indicating he could too, but there was no way he was leaving that quickly. How could he, when his middle finger seemed to be attracted to the centre of the warmth like that? When it slipped into her so easily? Katara’s breath caught in her throat and he felt her muscles clench around his finger. Zuko curled his finger slightly inside of her until she her body jolted slightly. There. That was what he was looking for. Now he needed to find the other point he knew would make her go crazy. He put more pressure on the palm of his hand and followed the movement of her pelvis until he saw goosebumps form on her arms. There, he was stimulating that one too. She pushed back against him even harder than before.

“Zuko,” she called quietly, “I can’t… take it…” she pulled his hand out of her trousers and pushed his other arm away from her waist. She kicked the ostrich horse into a gallop till they were in shouting distance of Toph and Ty Lee.

“We’re going to make camp here,” she called out to them, “can you too go on and get some food?”

Ty Lee turned her ostrich horse around to see them, looking at the boulder near Zuko and Katara. “Sure,” she cried back, “we’ll be back soon,” she said, waving, and turned the ostrich horse back in the direction of the road.

“Katara, the next village is miles away!” said Zuko, surprised.

“I know,” she replied, leading the ostrich horse into the trees that lined the road. Zuko grinned and wrapped her back up in his arms. He took the reins from her and directed the poor beast to the first slight clearing they found - a little waterfall forming a small pool of water that then ran away into a stream. There he slid off from behind and lifted Katara down after him, taking the ostrich horse to be tied up a little further downstream so it could drink. He returned to Katara with the packs they had tied on the beast and dropped them in sight of were she stood.

They considered one another from across the clearing. Neither knew who had started moving first, but they were entwined in one another’s arms a split second later. Zuko picked Katara up and laid her on the grass, helping her wriggle out of her Agni-damned clothes and he ripped his off as quickly as he could. All he needed to see were here breasts, nipples erect, in order to pull her towards him and enter her.

It didn’t last long.

For neither of them. Zuko tried to hold on, but Katara’s unrestrained cry of pleasure, one hand pulling at his hair and the other one pulling him deeper into her was more than enough. They both fell apart on the grass breathing heavily.

Suddenly Katara started laughing. She bent what he’d left in her outside and rolled onto her side to look at him, hair almost completely loose of her travelling plait. Zuko started laughing too. It shocked them both - Zuko hardly laughed. Occasionally he chuckled, but he never let go enough to properly burst out laughing. But he was laughing now, and he was laughing as he pulled her towards him again.

“You know what?” said Katara through her giggles.

“What?”

“I bet we stink!” In one small movement she bent some of the water from the pool to douse them both. Zuko cried out in shock.

“THAT’S FREEZING!” He sat up suddenly and threw her into the pool with a splash.

Katara resurfaced, spitting out water and smoothing her hair out of her face. She then created a water whip and pulled him in with her.

“Wait stop stop!” he cried, “I was being serious, this is actually freezing!” Zuko concentrated a moment and the little pool heated up slightly.

“Pfft! Fire Benders!” said Katara, coming closer to him and the source of the warmth, and wrapping herself in his arms. He kissed her head. They had both calmed down somewhat.

“So,” she started conversationally, “what was that thing you were doing earlier?” Zuko frowned.

“What thing?”

“That thing on the ostrich horse?” Zuko raised his good eyebrow at her. He didn’t even second guess himself this time and he let his hand fall through the water and find her pelvis again.

“You mean this thing?” he asked, letting a finger find its place just inside her again. Katara gasped.

“Yes. But Zuko don’t, we’ve just…” This time, since he was facing her, it was easier to let his thumb find the little bobble he knew lived at the front of her pelvic area. He massaged it just a little bit and could feel it warming up under his touch.

“Oh? You don’t like it?” he said, working both his finger and his thumb. By the way she reacted to his movements he knew that she actually very much liked it.

“No, no I… its fantastic…I…”

“You want me to stop this time?” he asked, having no intention of stopping. Not when she nipples were erect again and she reacted so beautifully to his little movements. She shook her head, not trusting herself to speak, and kissed him ferociously. He could feel himself getting excited again too.

“Has nobody done this to you before?” he asked. She shook her head again. He couldn’t help smiling and feeling proud. He was the only one!

Suddenly a thought occurred to him, and with a confidence he hardly felt, he whispered in her ear, “You should see what I can do with my mouth…”


	24. Air Ships and Sand Dunes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group travel to the desert to learn from the Sand Tribes, but the terrain is not easy and they have eggs to look after.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As usual all comments welcome! Do you guys find these travelling chapters interesting? I try to keep them in the same style as the show in the sense that there are a lot of things happening… does it work?

“Atchooooo,” cried Ty Lee, shaking the ostrich horse and by extension Toph who was sitting behind her.

“Bless y——“

“ATCHOOOOO,” sneezed Ty Lee, this time falling right off of the ostrich horse. Toph jumped off quickly taking the beast’s reigns so it didn’t run away. She felt Ty Lee sitting on the ground and Zuko’s and Katara’s ostrich horse pull up short.

“AAAAAAAATTTCHOOOOOooooooooo,” sneezed Ty Lee again, whizzing backwards with an unknown force.

“What is going on!” cried Toph, confused and very worried. She felt Both Zuko and Katara dismount, Zuko running to pick up Ty Lee and Katara leading her ostrich horse to hers.

“Ty Lee is accidentally air bending. We need to get to the privacy of the sands quickly,” Katara told her, worry lining her voice. Toph nodded in agreement.

“We’ll find an oasis and stay there while she learns control. If anybody _does_ happen to see anything they will assume she is juat bending the sand… We’ll need a sand-boat though…” reasoned Toph aloud.

Katara nodded.

“The last of the earth villages is a few miles away at the bottom of the hills. Then the sands begin. As long as we know where the sand villages are we can venture out into the dunes and search for an oasis… Water and firmer earth… I think you and I should be able to sense one if we’re in any way close.”

Zuko approached them, holding a very dazed and confused Ty Lee by the arm.

“I think maybe Toph and I should go to the village and get new clothes and a sand boat… Katara, can you and Ty walk towards the sands? Stay in a straight line and we’ll meet you parallel to the first Sand Village. We’ll take your ostrich horses and sell them too,” instructed Zuko, taking control of the situation.

“Wait why are we getting new clothes?” asked Toph, processing all of the information.

“We stick out too much,” explained Katara, “sand is a sort of yellow-beige and we’re wearing really contrasting colours. We need the local dress so that we can protect ourselves from sandstorms and say unnoticed in the dunes.”

“Beige….” Repeated Toph thoughtfully. She might not know what colours looked like, but she could learn what colours go together. “So what is beige like?” she asked Zuko after they had separated. They were riding an ostrich horse each which seemed like a luxury after riding in tandem for so long. As long as Toph stayed close to Zuko then she would be alright.

“Beige? Kind of like… a dirty, yellowy, white,” he replied, furrowing his brows in thought.

“So… its a light colour?” asked Toph. She had guessed as much about sand because the heat reflected up from itand made your feet hot. But then when you sank your feet down into it there was coolness. So it made all the heat stay on the surface - and light colours do that. Or was it that since that happened there was a light colour?

“Yes, and quite neutral. It contrasts bright colours like the ones we are wearing so that we stand out. The dried mud of the villages is a slightly darker shade of the same colour, and they build their houses out of the mud… so we stand out there too. We don’t want people to see us before we see them,”explained Zuko.

Toph hummed in thought, committing this information to memory. As she grew older she felt the need to understand how people perceived her. She had learnt that it meant a lot to the way people treated her, and not being the foolhardy, selfish little girl she used to be, she wanted to be able to stand out and blend in like everybody else could. She was learning quickly, although they were just words to her - enough to be able to ask for the right thing when she wanted it. But also now that she had moved on from her bitterness about the blindness - apart from her slight relapse in the Swamp - she had become fascinated with the world she couldn’t see. A fascination that had lain dormant for a while and had been rekindled on her adventures since arriving at the Fire Palace.

During her musings, she had dismounted the ostrich horse and was leading it through the last Earth Village, following Zuko.

It didn’t seem any different to the Sand Tribe Villages - made of the same cracked, dry mud and built in the same layout. Toph knew there was going to be a central square, usually with a feature in the middle, where they conducted trade of all sorts, and then the square houses would spread out in a square formation from there. This one had perhaps a few more plants, being close enough to the hills to seek shade from the hot sun, and still making use of the river that Zuko and Toph had left behind them. However, Toph did notice that people here were louder than the Sand tribe villages, showing the greater influence of the main Earth Kingdom. When they arrived at the Sand Tribe main town, there would not be this much loud conversation in any of its four main squares.

They managed to sell the ostrich horses to a kindly Earth Kingdom couple who were travelling to a farm outside Ba Sing Se. They looked tired and too thin, so Zuko gave them a good deal considering that they would treasure the beasts for bringing them some good respite.

Next on the shopping list were clothes - which Zuko located in a tailor’s store off the main square.

“Welcome to Mei’s boutique, what are you looking for today?” greeted a thin, stern looking woman with her precise, rehearsed words as they entered. Zuko explained what they needed quickly and bargained on the price, so that when they walked out of the shop they were both dressed in the traditional garments of the inner Sand Tribe villages; long gowns in light fabric in order to protect them from the unforgiving sun with headdresses to cover their faces from the sand should they get caught in a sand storm.

Curiously, there was a far lower starting price for them when they went to purchase a sand boat, probably since they were mistaken for locals and not travellers. Toph did the talking in her best Earth Kingdom accent, even imitating the slight twang she had heard while staying in the desert when she went to learn sand bending.

Finally, towards late afternoon, they left the village with the sand boat on tow. The dunes had not yet started, a thick layer of dried mud covering the ground, so Toph was earth bending a platform of rock with the sand boat on top of it behind them. After a while of walking towards the dunes she stopped and put the boat down.

“Right Sparky, your go,” she said, wiping the sweat off of her hands.

“To drag the boat?” asked Zuko, eyeing it up somewhat unconvinced. “I might drop it Toph, I’m not sure I can hold concentration for that long!” Toph sighed but conceded. It was too precious to break.

“Alright alright. Well at least you can help me - this is hard work on my own,” she lied. In reality it was easy - what was hard was concentrating on it and on feeling in which direction they needed to go at the same time under the heat.

Zuko nodded, and on a count of three lent his rudimentary earth bending to Toph’s so that they could half the load. Zuko grinned.

“What are you so happy about?” questioned Toph after a while.

“I quite… like… Earth Bending,” he replied haltingly. Toph snorted in disbelief, but secretly it made her proud. _She’d_ taught him to earth bend. It was down to _her_ that Zuko and Katara were sharing in her beautiful element… and soon it would be _her_ responsibility to share that passion with Ty Lee too. Toph got a strange fluttering in the pit of her stomach when she considered teaching Ty Lee something so precious to her… but she put it out of her mind and focussed on making sure they found their friends.

 

* * *

 

The sands had hardly started in earnest where Katara and Ty Lee had stopped. Katara had earth bent some rock from further back and was trying to prop it up to give them some shade. She took the opportunity to try her hand at some sand bending - and found that it was tricky if she approached it from an earth bending perspective. Her only success came when she started trying to think about it as water bending - every drop leading to a whole, and being able to control every speck of sand together. However she needed to shift her perspective slightly; these did not merge to a whole when she tried to bend them as water did! After a while of frustrating attempts she finally managed to flick some sand into the air, but not much else.

Ty Lee was also trying to reconnect with the air bending that had manifested itself earlier. She didn’t know what she was supposed to feel - and neither did Katara. The best she could do was try to explain her innate connection with water and hope that Ty Lee’s was similar. However, no matter how much she tried, she couldn’t make anything happen. She sat in the shade and tried to relax as Katara was attempting sand bending, watching the sand rustle around her.

The time crept by and Ty Lee’s vision glazed over from staring at the same place for so long. Sounds bleached into the background and she entered her trance state. It was something she had been taught to do in the circus, although there they had drums to keep a repetitive beat and send the members off into their ‘healing trance’. They needed to stay focussed through their dangerous tricks, and they were serious about trying ever more death-defying feats. The trances were to commit to memory that day’s successes and failures, and to leave them behind. A slip up one day could not be permitted to discourage the acrobat, or they would slip up forever. Going into a trance you had to think about what you wanted to achieve and let your mind make it happen for you.

The same thing happened here, albeit somewhat unintentionally. The movement of the sand in the wind lulled Ty Lee into her trance state. Nothing existed but the wind pushing those grains of sand backwards and forwards, backwards and forwards. It was a force, gentle but persistent, more powerful than any one gust. Ty Lee became the force, felt how it pushed, how it moved… she knew this force; she had been controlling it, channelling it in one direction or the other for years as a Kyoshi warrior… her hands went automatically to her side to pick up her fans which she would never leave behind. There was nothing in her mind but the sound of the wind, the feel of the wind, her as part of the wind. It was singing to her, calling her to join in, she was sure of it!

Ty Lee went through her usual morning katas with her fan, but this time keeping her eyes closed, her breath even, and letting the wind guide her movements. With every inhale she drew the power she felt around her to herself, and with every exhale she pushed it out in the direction of her fan. At first not much happened, but gradually she was shifting sand in different directions. She couldn’t see it, but she could _feel_ the air following her directions.

Her exercises developed into the usual turns and jumps, but this time Ty Lee was aware of more power behind her moves, more height under her jumps…and then they wound down until she was bowing, as she had been drilled, to an absent Avatar Kyoshi. She opened her eyes, blinking in the bright sunlight and found herself surrounded by walls of sand about her same height, as if somebody had dug a large hole in the dune.

Katara was sitting on one side, looking down at Ty Lee.

“I’d offer you a hand but I don’t think you need one,” said Katara, unmoving from her position.

Ty Lee held her breath, not wanting to lose the amazing insight she had just gained, and kicked off, angling her fans in a downward motion. The air seemed to run through her body and push her upwards, landing delicately beside Katara.

Katara stood up and looked around. She then frowned in concentration and made a water-bending-like movement with her hands - a brushing movement - which extended thought her body and to her feet which followed the dance. The sand responded immediately and Ty Lee’s little hole was covered up as if it had never existed.

“Now you need to explain how you did all of that,” continued Katara, leading Ty Lee back to their shade, growing ever bigger in the sinking sunlight.

“Kyoshi… she’s been teaching me since I met the warriors…all the things we do with the fans - she used them - she created them for air bending! I didn’t even know it, I didn’t even _think_ about it until now!” Somehow vocalising her revelation made it more real and more intensely terrifying than before. Ty Lee dropped to a sitting position as she herself tried to take it what had just happened.

“Do you feel alright,” asked Katara worriedly, watching Ty’s face closely.

“Feel? I feel … I feel amazing! Its like there has always been a part of me that wants to be in the air - I’ve never been scared of heights - I picked up the fans like I’d had them all my life - all the warriors were amazed that I learned so quickly! But now I think I understand… this is part of me! I think it always has been… does that make sense?” babbled Ty Lee, watching the sand but seeing her whole life in a new light. Her at home constantly climbing up everywhere; her at the old quarry with her childhood friends taking the highest dives into the water; her at the circus becoming First Acrobat in no time at all; her with Azula and Mai always attacking from above - feeling _alive_ when she was surrounded only by air; her on Kyoshi having the best control of the fans.

“You know I felt the same thing. I had to learn water bending on my own at first, in the South Pole. I could only feel like I belonged in the world when I could channel the power of the water through my fingertips,” said Katara, wriggling her fingers in the air.

“Oh. I don’t think about my fingers really… should I be?” asked Ty Lee, confused.

“No, what do you think about? Where is the power of the air being channeled?”

Ty Lee thought.

“Though my head. Its like I breathe it in and it makes by head feel light - but not as in silly light - as in clear like when there is a sea breeze…”

“That would make sense. Remember I told you about the chi? Air Benders have the most chi focussed around their necks and heads. And your first manifestation was your sneezing so through your nose.”

“So… water bending has to do with your hands?” guessed Ty.

“Your whole torso actually, but mostly your arms and hands. Blood is part of a water bender’s realm and it is pushed around by the heart. Fire bending is in your very core, your stomach, thats where it is drawn from, that is where your body creates the heat to keep you alive. And earth bending - obviously - from your legs and feet. Those are our connections with the world around us and they are all beautiful things.”

They were silent for a while.

“Ty,” started Katara tentatively, “I know it is a bit early to ask, but I don’t think we have time on our side… The rest of us need to learn some air bending as quickly as possible. Not just how to air bend, but what it is about. Huu at the swamp taught us that the only truth is unity, and so we must learn to appreciate even air which is the element none of us know anything about. Would you be able to teach us a little?”

“And I guess I’ll learn the other three?” asked Ty Lee after a pause.

“Yes. But unity is the important part here I think. Becoming a great water, fire or earth bender is not the aim right now. Perhaps, in some future, if we can teach Aang what he is missing and if we can free him from the silent ones at the temple,” sighed Katara.

“And how do we do that?”

“We listen, we learn the forgotten knowledge of the forgotten tribes, we meditate… and I guess look after these dragons!” Katara pulled her egg out of her pack. The glowing, breathing dragon inside was taking shape and approaching the size of the egg itself. Soon it would crack the outer shell and come into the world. “Its so strong already,” breathed Katara, examining it carefully. The egg was becoming physically hot to touch now, but it did not hurt her at all.

Katara suddenly pursed her lips.

“Ty? Could you touch this egg? Just for a second with maybe one finger… I want to see something.” Ty Lee frowned but reached out with a finger and brushed it against the surface of the egg. She retracted it immediately with a cry.

“That’s hot!” she said, sucking her finger. “But Toph’s isn’t like that!” she exclaimed, pulling the other egg from her pack. She held it effortlessly with no burning sensation.

Katara extended one hand and held it just above the egg, feeling the intense, burning heat coming from the surface. Her own egg was different - there was no danger of burning herself on it.

“I think its because that is your egg and this is mine. It must mean something to the dragons that will hatch. Perhaps they will only be obedient to their respective egg owners,” mused Katara, tucking her egg safely back into her pack. Ty Lee held hers thoughtfully for a while longer then did the same.

Katara felt the disturbance in the sand at around the same time that Ty Lee picked up a new sound on top of the wind’s moaning. They both stood up and gazed into the distance, trying to pick out the newcomer from the long shadows of the dunes. A boat was skimming along the sand, sails up, wind at its shoulders, approaching them ever more quickly. As it came level with them it stopped, the sand rising up to sink it into the ground. The sails were taken in and out hopped Toph, followed by Zuko disguised in traditional sand tribe dress. Zuko handed Katara and Ty Lee a bundle of clothes and then walked over to Katara.

Katara couldn’t help noticing how the new outfit enhanced his eyes. Nothing was visible apart from his serious, smouldering, golden eyes, and they did not look away from her from the time he touched down on the sand. She had never noticed how directly he watched her, how he fixed her with that unwavering gaze - not until now that the _only_ thing she could see of Zuko were those intense eyes. They seemed to cut out a trajectory towards her and he went to stand by her immediately. Katara could feel herself blushing slightly and instinctively brushed his hand with hers. He pulled down the part of the headdress that covered his face so that it bunched up underneath his chin.

“The eggs are really hot,” started Ty Lee, opening up and looking at the clothes she had been given somewhat non-plussed at their plainness.

“Are they? I picked ours up yesterday…” started Toph.

“Yeah but if you try to pick up Katara’s and Zuko’s then you will burn yourself,” continued Ty.

“Huh! That’s strange!”

“Ty, Katara, put on your new clothes. We need to find one the oasis near here. Katara can you sense the water?” interrupted Zuko, worried about the setting sun.

“I can try,” replied Katara as she stripped to her undergarments and slipped on her new outfit. Out of habit Zuko busied himself with something else while the girls changed, and once they were done he stowed away their packs and hoisted the sails once more.

Katara sat on the front of the boat and sank into a mediative state. She needed to listen for the push and pull of water to find the oasis before nightfall. For a long time there was nothing. Then, the more she listened, the picked up on a faint glimmer of familiarity and pointed in that direction. The boat shuddered into motion behind her but she didn’t break concentration as she continued to point adjusting their position. It was growing stronger. There! Right in front!

Katara opened her eyes and gasped. They were stationary at the bottom of the biggest sand dune she had ever seen. And the water was the other side of it. To go around would mean losing all light, and none of them were in touch with the ground to feel if anybody was approaching them while they were in the boat.

“Shit,” she said, turning around to see the horrified faces of her friends.

“Is this as big as I feel it is?” shouted Toph over the wind.

“Yes.”

“Right. Alright Sparky you’re helping me do this on the other side of the boat, I can’t move this much sand and stay stable at the same time. Sugarqueen you’re at the back, the sand that we move out of the way you need to bring back to its initial position behind us so if we slip we won’t slide all the way down. Gigglypuff, hold on!”

Katara and Zuko took their places and with their faces scrunched in concentration they helped Toph move the boat up at impossible angles while somehow not falling off backwards.

They were nearing the top but the sand was too unstable to propel them any further. Even though Katara had been covering their path, the wind was blowing the sand formations all over the place and they started slipping. Katara managed to hold the boat but they couldn’t make it move forward.

Ty Lee, till that point gathering her strength, jumped up from where she had been sitting holding on to the central mast. She had been concentrating on the wind, and was playing with it in a small way, but now was her chance to try something useful. She took the Wide Stance the Kyoshi warriors had taught her and opened up her fans. Slowly, she held them up until they were being battered by the wind, almost perpendicular to their direction. Ty willed the wind to follow another path, bringing it down and round in long sweeping movements so that it caught the sails at the right angle.

The boat jolted into motion, sails full from the wind. Toph didn’t question what was happening but Zuko looked back in appreciation. All four working together brought the boat up to the top of the dune where it balanced delicately for a few seconds.

Below them was an equally sharp descent, a small ridge in comparison with the desert around them, in which the last rays of sunlight wondered, making the sand twinkle a deep gold. In almost a straight line from where they were balanced, further than the bottom of the dune, they could make out some harder ground; palms, the glitter of water. That was their destination.

Toph couldn’t see where the water was and was trying to understand the sand formations around her. Zuko and Katara timidly looked down the dune in front of them, not understanding how they would be able to edge the boat down before all light left them.

Ty Lee, meanwhile, was thrilled by her air bending. She had never felt so alive in her entire life! She wanted to do more, she wanted to stay in her beautiful light headed state all of the time! Raising her fans she directed a sharp gust of wind into the sails, tipping them over the edge and cried out it joy as they rushed down, aided by the wind, most of the time not even touching the ground. She was surrounded by her element, all around her, rushing past her - she couldn’t hear anything else although she was aware than her friends were also crying out in their adrenaline rush around her.

The land flattened out underneath the boat and Ty stopped the wind pulling them so fast for fear it would ruin their only mode of transport. In the urgency a very confused and wind swept Toph sprang into action and directed the boat to the edges of the oasis, stopping in the sands rather than the mud. They all jumped off, grabbing their packs as Toph sunk the boat into the sand, leaving one mast sticking up. In the twilight they picked their way to the water’s edge and collapsed, exhausted, beside it.

“What the FUCK was THAT!” cried Toph finally.

“I learned to Air Bend! Isn’t it amazing Toph?” replied an excited Ty Lee, still brimming with energy.

“Some warning maybe? I CAN’T FEEL AIR! I had no idea——“

“Uuuuuh Toph,” interrupted Katara.

“Shut up! I had no idea what you were doing, I could have fallen ——“

“Toph,” tried Katara again in a worried voice.

“You Shut UP! Don’t you understand that we could have all fallen into the——“

“TOPH!” shouted Zuko, silencing her with the sternness of his voice. “Your pack feels like its on fire!”

Toph tuned into the heat around her and her pack _did_ feel extremely hot. She ripped it open just as there came deafening cracking sound from it, and picked out the egg which was cool to her touch, but hard pieces of egg were coming apart in her hands.

Katara also picked out her egg which was starting to crack in the same way.

“Oh Fuck,” breathed Zuko.


	25. The Water Trail

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group find themselves in the middle of the desert with two dragons they don't know how to take care of. Between teaching them all they know, they must find a way to progress without drawing attention to themselves or their new friends - in order to do so they need to follow The Water Trail

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry I haven’t written in the longest time. Many things have been happening and I just haven’t factored in writing, but I miss it more and more every day so I am going to try to carve out some time to update regularly. Thank you for all your wonderful comments that have encouraged me to come back! This is a little bit transitionary but next one is going to be a little more… action packed shall we say…

Zuko was fire. He was floating and flickering, drifting apart and coming together on a heat current, shimmering, wavering… leaving patterns through the idea of his body, spreading out to his fingertips, erupting from his fingertips, giving sensations to the burned, dull part of his face, lifting it off so that it encompassed everything around him, the whole world, looking down from above but also looking up at the same time. The whirling, dancing of the air currents around him and through him as he descended from a great height, spiralling back into his closed body, and with it came the realisation that he was asleep on a bag, warm winds tugging at his hair.

Zuko opened his eyes, not quite sure where he was, but at peace with the world. He realised he was breathing heavily, nostrils flaring with he effort, but at the same time he felt calm - it was from a wish to connect with the world in the same way he just had in his dream.

From his side there was a steady hot breeze that would tickle his skin. Then it would stop. Then it would start again. Sitting up he realised that it was no breeze that pleased him so much, but the regular, warm breath of the dragon, curled up next to him.

It was difficult to think those thoughts; a _dragon_! He had spent most of his life believing that the dragons had been exterminated by his ancestors, doomed to fly only through the history books. But here, next to him, lay his own dragon. When the dragons had hatched, their scales gave a peculiar translucent feeling, as if you were able to look through the thick hide into the blood and bones of the beast. This, however, was not the case. If anything it was more of a reflection of the light around the dragons, or a strange murky concoction of the colours bouncing here and there before their eyes.

In the few days of life, the little dragons had solidified, although they still shimmered in the sunlight like the heat rising from the ground. Their immense intelligence started to show in their exploration of their surroundings. For some reason Zuko’s dragon could more or less understand when he or Katara spoke to it but found it difficult to react in the same way when Toph or Ty Lee said the same words. They decided that it might be because in the egg stage each dragon only heard the voices of those carrying it and so was used to their timbre… or maybe there was more of a connection than that. Equally they seemed to push certain ideas into their benders’ minds. These were tentative and required a good amount of guessing as well as some growls to call attention to the fact they wanted something. They spent a long time sleeping in the sun, and Zuko spent a long time observing them. It seemed that every breath made them more real, more solid, slightly larger. In just a few days they had doubled in size it seemed with little more than the energy of the sun for the group didn’t really know what to feed them.

However, their lack of practical knowledge weighed on everybody’s minds. The food they had brought was tentatively being eaten by the dragons but it seemed to provide little sustenance - and it didn’t last long with two extra mouths to feed. They had to ration but the dragons would often nose about the packs containing the food and growl for more.

The four were sitting in the shade of a large palm having finished going through Kyoshi exercises and attempting to bend air - again - with limited success. In truth they were all distracted by the dragons and their current predicament.

“We’re going to have to split up,” started Toph. “We can’t take them near any of the villages without a fight on our hands… remember what they did to Appa…” she said, turning in Katara’s direction. Years before, deep in the same desert, Appa had been taken by Sand Tribe poachers while Toph tried to save her friends from being buried in the sand as they explored the infamous spirit library. She still counted it as one of her greatest failures.

Katara placed a hand on Toph’s shoulder in sympathy.

“At least we’re all here to protect them,” she replied reassuringly. “But yes, we need to be wary. We need to get to the main Sand Tribe town and find what wisdom they have to offer as well as learn how to take care of dragons and find some more food…”

“Exactly… that’s why I’m saying we need to split up Two stay with the dragons and two go in search of food…” repeated Toph.

“That won’t change our situation though,” sighed Zuko. “We will still be stuck here with no more knowledge than we already have. We need to get closer to the Sand City to juggle everything. And even then I don’t know if there will be anything to teach us about dragon- care!” he paused. “Why couldn’t they teach us anything useful!” he cried suddenly, “Like what dragons eat and how to train them! Oh no! Only how to hunt them and how powerful they are!! Destruction, all the time! We only learned to destroy!” he got up and stomped off into the distance angrily. His and Katara’s dragon understood something was wrong and it sprang to its feet, trotting off after him.

Katara let him go. She knew he sometimes needed to be alone and cool off. Later she would soothe his nerves. Right now though there were bigger problems to be solved.

“Seems like I need to find another oasis nearer to the Sand City,” she said out loud.

“That’s still a long way away,” chimed in Ty Lee, “Maybe just the next oasis along, if there is one, and we can edge towards it? Maybe you could teach us how you do it Katara and we can help!”

Toph chuckled.

“Bet its meditation, right Sugarqueen?” she said dryly.

“Uhhh… yeah. It is. Like at the tree in the swamp but focussed on water. Its easier here because there isn’t much water to contrast with…” Katara regarded Ty Lee speculatively. Was giving Ty water bending so soon after her air bending a bad idea? Perhaps Ty should spend more time with the element which was innately hers before being pulled in the other directions. Here would be the ideal place though because the senses could only focus on one water source at a time…

“Is there something wrong Katara?” asked Ty Lee, cocking her head to one side inquisitively like a little bird.

Katara shook her head quickly, breaking her thoughtful gaze at Ty Lee.

“I was considering teaching you to water bend but I think you need to become better at air bending first. Tonight I will try to feel as far as I can and find us another oasis. And I guess I’ll go check on Zuko,” she added with a sigh, getting up and dusting herself off.

Ty Lee watched her go and turned to Toph.

“Why doesn’t she meditate now? Is it too hot?” she asked.

“What? Oh no, its because the moon and the water are connected so she is most powerful under the moon. Yue is the moon-spirit and she helps water benders everywhere,” explained Toph. She chose not to go into tides and pushes and pulls and blood… Katara was right. Ty Lee needed to understand and truly appreciate air bending first before being thrown into their world of multiple bending. She didn’t know how long it would take but part of the reason Toph, Katara and Zuko trusted one another with the immense power of the multiple bending was their mastery of one form - their true, deep understanding of their potential and of their element before taking on something new. Somewhere in the back of Toph’s mind was a ticking clock. She felt as if there was an alarm about to go off but she didn’t know how long till it did, as if time was running out and there would be a moment to test them and their part in the bigger picture. Would Ty Lee have enough time to catch up and make up the whole?

“Come Ty, we should bend. You can try to make those stupid air balls Aang always bounces around on…” Toph got up and pulled Ty after her to practice more.

 

* * *

 

 

Katara found Zuko sitting some way away on the outer edge of the oasis. She expected him to be doing the classic Zuko-sulk or the Zuko-angry-fire-bending but in reality found him sitting cross legged staring intently at their dragon. She stood back to observe their exchange. After a while of nothing Zuko blew some flames out of his mouth and smoke from his nostrils. The dragon made one of those deep growls, too deep for its size, and then tried to imitate him. At first nothing happened, but then Zuko showed it again and this time the dragon coughed out a few feeble flames. Zuko blew out a larger, controlled ball of fire off to one side and looked expectantly at the dragon, who tried to do the same. Again, at first it only managed to cough up a little fire, but then it stared intently into Zuko’s eyes and seemed to breathe more deeply than before. It puffed itself up and an enormous fireball erupted from its mouth into the sands, so hot it melted the sand nearby creating some thin cracked glass.

The dragon looked surprised - as much as dragons _can_ look surprised - and stood for a moment breathing smoke from its nostrils. It then emitted a strange gargling noise and jumped up and down on the spot, intelligent eyes beaming at Zuko.

Zuko looked towards Katara. “I think it’s happy,” he said, grinning.

Katara smiled in response, coming closer. The dragon sensed her presence and immediately ran to her and started running circles around her legs making her laugh and bend down to pick it up. It was still only as tall as her knees but a fair bit longer and growing every day.

“We should give it a name,” he continued as she sat down next to him, trying to contain a very excited and wriggling dragon.

“Do you think its a he or a she?” asked Katara. How did one find a dragon’s sex? Did they even have a sex?

“I don’t know,” replied Zuko, thoughtfully, “maybe they don’t have males and females since Agni has to intervene for a dragon egg to be created…”

“But there still need to be two dragons right?” mused Katara, who had by now given up on holding the dragon and let it free to blow the sand surrounding them into shards of glass.

“I don’t actually know. At the Sun Tribe there were two dragons but we also got two eggs. Maybe each dragon created an egg or maybe both are needed and they jointly created two eggs. I’ve been thinking about it. I really don’t know.”

“Alright well it needs a name anyway so what name can be both male and female?”

They both thought for a while, watching their dragon play with its new found ability.

“I really can’t think of anything that fits,” sighed Zuko.

“It will come to us I’m sure,” agreed Katara, “and tonight I’ll find us a way out of here closer to the Sand City so we can make things work.” She paused a second before leaning towards Zuko and giving him a kiss on the cheek before leaving him alone again.

 

* * *

 

 

That evening the moon was not full. But it was a cloudless night as it had been since they arrived at the sands, and all the energy flowed around Katara. She went to the water’s edge and lay down next to it, facing the moon in the sky and letting one arm fall into the now-cool water of the oasis. She levelled her breathing and just before losing herself to her water bending she sensed the overly-hot form of her dragon join her by the water. It did nothing but watch her and eventually lay down near her peacefully.

Katara left her body on the shore and immersed herself in water. She loved the sea far more than these little pockets because she could feel the tides - the push and pull that brought life around her. Here the water was still and very very deep. She followed it down rather than jumping immediately to reaching out across the desert, more out of curiosity for the depth of the oasis than anything else.

Down, down, down it went, deeper than she would have thought, deeper than the sands, deeper than the light, a thin shaft of water getting thinner as it sank into the earth… and then… and then suddenly much more water… rushing, flowing, fast and unchecked deep underneath, feeding this little oasis as it squeezed itself through some gap in the earth above it.

Katara followed this underground river, vaguely noting how different the earth surrounding it felt to the earth they stood on - harder and thicker. She followed the water. Every so often there was a crack in the surface of the tunnel and water would be pushed up and funnelled upwards. Many times these did not make it very far but Katara recognised the relentless pushing of water slowly eating away at the earth above it. Perhaps some of them would make it to the surface. A few already had and Katara had to find a way to pinpoint these in relation to surface features around them. It came as no surprise that there were more living things around the springs - but she was looking for a _lot_ of living things…

Eventually she found what she had hoped; the underground river flowed closer to the surface, allowing more springs to appear and as such a city to grow. There were many also just under the surface, within reach of humans but of course nobody knew. Around the highest concentration of springs grew a city. Oh! In fact there was another river meeting hers deep underground, forcing the water upwards! That would make sense. The other river must be the one following the line of Sand Villages that lead to the main Sand City. However, her river still gave little oasis springs scattered in odd directions away from the city. Those were the ones they needed to aim for. They needed to follow the river.

 

* * *

 

 

Katara opened her eyes to stare up at the moon, now high in the sky. She knew there were stars around it but she couldn’t quite focus on them for the fire that burned not far from her, making sure she stayed warm in the cold desert night. Her friends were chatting quietly by the fire. Nobody had noticed she had come out of her meditation - nobody apart from her dragon, who trotted over to her and lay down on her stomach, fixing her with its big eyes. Abruptly, it broke their gaze and sprang down her outstretched arm into the water. Katara gasped and sat up, looking into its dark depths for the little dragon.

It resurfaced and floated on the water, sending small ripples in all directions, distorting the reflection of the moon. The silver light outlined the creature beautifully as it maintained half its long body above the water and half below horizontally. It didn’t even look like it was kicking underneath in order to keep itself afloat.

Katara crouched on the side and put her hands in so they too floated above and below the water. She slowly lifted one hand, a thin strip of water following it upwards. She played with the stream, curling it around her entire arm and then sending it curling near the dragon, who watched intently.

It opened its mouth and scooped in some water. Fixing Katara it spat the water out to hit her stream, breaking its acrobatics. Katara giggled a little. She sent a small jet of water to hit the little dragon between the eyes playfully. The dragon returned the favour and gurgled in delight again. It swam in little circles and ducked under every so often reminding Katara of he massive sea serpent they had encountered on their way to Ba Sing Se all those years ago. She distantly wondered whether the two creatures were related.

Still playing, Katara created a small whirlpool that swept the little thing up in it. It gurgled more and then jumped up from the water to get out of the spinning, before splashing down again. But what made Katara gasp was the fact that to jump that high, that quickly from an essentially stationary position the dragon needed to have interacted with water in some way. Not water bend, surely? Maybe heat? Explosive heat would do it! Or air bending? But surely that wouldn’t really work underwater - you had to bring air down first in order to use it to spring upwards.

Katara had an idea.

She held some water in her hands and slowly increased the temperature of the water until it vaporised. Again, the dragon watched her carefully. It then scooped some more water into its mouth and blew out steam. It blasted itself out of the water - this time Katara could feel the temperature change left behind - and landed beside her, immediately steaming off any water left on its scales instead of letting it roll off on its own. The dragon gargled gleefully and blew little shots of fire out of its mouth, attracting Zuko’s attention.

Zuko went over to the two of them and looked questioningly at Katara. She perceived the look from his half-illuminated face. The good side. Like this, in the half light of the fire plunging his other side into darkness she could imagine him as he would have been without his scar. Frighteningly handsome. Frightening because that was not the Zuko she knew and … well … had fallen for. That was a strange figment of the imagination, a Zuko who did not stand up for the people of his Nation, the model Fire Prince.

Katara shuddered and turned away, pretending to busy herself with getting up off the ground and encouraging the dragon to follow her to the fire and to her friends, carefully avoiding Zuko’s scrutiny.

 

* * *

 

 

“How come your dragon can breathe fire now?” moaned Toph, eying her dragon uneasily.

“Zuko sat with it and showed it how to make fire. And then I showed it how to make steam. It swims as well…” mused Katara aloud. She wasn’t really sure _how_ they had showed it to do those things, but somehow by watching and copying it had picked the skills up. It was asleep now near the warmth of the fire. At night they slept curled up, their long bodies neatly curving into a compact shape and their head resting on top of the body so as to have full view if they needed to wake up. During the day when they slept in the sun they were on their backs, their bellies up to the rays and completely vulnerable. She wondered whether this was because they felt more uncomfortable without the presence of the sun or whether they absorbed more heat that way. Perhaps a bit of both.

“Ooooh maybe I can teach ours how to fly!” cried Ty Lee, “I’ll try tomorrow!”

“Anyway as I was saying, there’s an underground river which intersects another river at the Sand City. So if we follow this one and stop before that intersection we should get close enough without attracting attention to ourselves.”

“Yeah alright so we’ll set off tomorrow,” yawned Toph, standing up and rubbing the back of her neck. “I’m beat. Night!” she wondered off into the darkness and they heard the grind of rock as she created her usual earth tent.

“Me too! I’m so excited to try teaching my dragon to fly tomorrow! See you in the morning,” said Ty Lee, jumping to her feet and almost skipping away to make her bed.

Zuko and Katara were left by the crackling firelight alone. Kata could feel his eyes on her. He had seen her flinching earlier and if she knew anything about him she knew he wouldn’t let it slide. She sighed.

“What is it Zuko?” she asked finally, not looking away from the fire.

“Why won’t you look at me?” he countered.

Katara tore her eyes away from the flames and looked him in the eyes. Relief washed over her as the familiar scar on his face was clearly visible now. She relaxed slightly, not even realising she had been tense in the first place.

“I am looking at you,” she replied innocently.

He blew smoke form his nostrils.

“Earlier you looked at me and you saw something and it scared you. What was it?”

“Well you don’t mess around do you? What if I don’t want to talk about it?” She was just being stubborn now.

“That is your choice,” he replied looking away, but he couldn’t hide the pang of hurt that crossed his features.

“I saw you without the scar,” she said finally. Zuko’s jaw clenched. “The firelight only lit one side of your face and it was like seeing you without the scar because I could imagine the other side without it.”

“The scar scared you?” he said in tight words. Technically it was a question but he phrased it as more of a statement. Katara shook her head, hair swinging with the movement.

“The lack of scar,” she replied. There was a silence between them.

“It was horrific, what Ozai did, but I thought you already knew that… from the crystal caves…”

Katara was so far from his train of thought this jolted her out of her reverie. She hadn’t thought about the caves in so long… why was he thinking about those caves? She frowned.

“What are you talking about Zuko? I know what happened, I know what Ozai did, and I know why he did it!”

“Then… did you prefer the version with no scar?” he said quietly. He was always quiet when he gave voice to his insecurities.

Katara’s eyes widened as she understood finally what he was getting at.

“No! It terrified me! You but without the scar means you as Ozai’s perfect Fire Prince, means you not standing up for your people, means you ruling from the court in fine clothes rather than chasing the Avatar on some La forsaken mission! I do not want the picture of the scarless-Zuko in my mind. It puts me on edge and it was so real for a second I could have attacked you,” explained Katara, stumbling over the stream of words falling from her lips. “But then we came to the light and your scar is there, as it should be. I’m alright now,” she added with a weak smile. She reached up and gently cupped his scarred face as she had in the crystal caves.

Zuko closed his eyes for a few breaths, letting her caress his scar. He then caught her hand in his and brought it round to his lips, kissing it softly.

“My scar… as it should be…” he repeated to himself.

 


End file.
